bubble universe: a glimpse into teamlab’s new borderless museum at tokyo's azabudai hills

four new installations at teamlab’s new borderless museum

After operating successfully in Odaiba since 2018, the teamLab Borderless: Mori Building Digital Art Museum is preparing to move to Heatherwick studio’s Azabudai Hills in central Tokyo and reopen in early February 2024. Along with the Azabudai Hills Gallery, which is currently hosting its inaugural exhibition by Olafur Eliasson, and other various public art initiatives inside the new mixed-used district, Mori Building aims to promote a museum-like environment where art and culture unite. Ahead of its official reopening on February 9, teamLab Borderless has offered a preview of four upcoming interactive installations at its new location, incorporating the concept of ‘wander, explore, discover in one borderless world’. These new massive installation rooms, including Light Sculpture – Flow series, Microcosmoses – Wobbling Light, Bubble Universe, and Megalith Crystal Formation, invite visitors to immerse themselves into a multi-sensory exploration of light, space, and conceptual dimensions.

teamLab, Light Vortex © teamLab

Illuminating the Light Sculpture – Flow Series

The Light Sculpture – Flow series comprises large sculptures with cascading light that extends outward, gently surrounding people. In the space known as Asymmetric Universe, light sculptures take form as asymmetrical entities, existing in both the real space and the mirrored world. These sculptures seamlessly move between the real world and the mirrored realm. As teamLab focuses on creating these new Light Sculpture artworks, Toshiyuki Inoko, the founder of teamLab Borderless, describes the experience of being immersed in the process. The artworks explore the Spatial Sculpture with Ambiguous Boundaries concept, aiming to create sculptures beyond material reality. The philosophy underlying their work centers on the idea that life can be perceived in the ordered flow of light, much like the vortices of the ocean, illustrating how distinct components can come together to form a unified, lifelike entity.

teamLab, Birth © teamLab

teamLab, Awakening © teamLab

Microcosmoses – Wobbling Light installation

The other exhibition at the teamLab Borderless, titled Microcosmoses – Wobbling Light, hosts an array of wobbling lights that traverse an expansively infinite space with incomprehensible depth. The lights within each sphere’s center can emit different colors, yet it’s challenging to pinpoint a specific hue as the light reflects off the various surfaces in the room. The artwork explores the question, ‘Even if the components in the artwork are spatially and temporally separate, when different orders are formed and overlap as a whole, is that the universe?’ Wobbling Light is part of teamLab’s recent art project, Cognitive Sculpture. These sculptures go beyond physical existence and exist in the realm of cognition.

teamLab, Microcosmoses – Wobbling Light © teamLab

inside the Bubble Universe

Bubble Universe is part of teamLab’s recent art project and is an interactive installation filled entirely with spheres that generate an endless interplay of light. Within these spheres, a blend of different lights, resembling soap bubbles, jelly-like masses, and stationary lights, creates an interconnected environment where neighboring spheres contribute to the ambient light. When someone pauses near a sphere, the closest one shines brightly and emits a tone, transmitting light to its nearest neighbors, creating a singular path of light. This interactive artwork, seemingly random in its arrangement, features resonating lights influenced by people’s interactions. As visitors interact within this space, the lights respond dynamically, creating a mesmerizing interplay influenced by their relationships and movements.

teamLab, Bubble Universe: Physical Light, Bubbles of Light, Wobbling Light, and Environmental Light, 2023 (work in progress), Interactive Installation, LED, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

image © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery

Megalith Crystal Formation

Megalith Crystal Formation is divided into two parts: Flowers and People; and Black Wave. The first depicts masses of various time and space elements connecting harmoniously. Flowers within the installation undergo a natural cycle —blooming, withering, and fading away. When people move, the flowers disperse, but when they stand still, the flowers flourish. Created by a computer program in real-time, this interactive artwork changes continuously with viewer interaction, ensuring each visual state is transient and cannot be experienced again. The second part illustrates various temporal and spatial elements that exist randomly, yet connect to each other. This artwork emphasizes the interconnectedness of oceans and waves worldwide, symbolizing the essence of life. Waves represent life’s energy and vitality, appearing alive as they rise and disappear, eventually merging back into the ocean. teamLab creates these waves using simulations of water particles in 3D space, creating lines along their trajectories through what they term Ultrasubjective Space. This space liberates the viewer from fixed perspectives, ensuring a harmonious connection between the viewer’s space and the artwork itself.

teamLab, Flowers and People – Megalith Crystal Formation (work in progress), 2023 (work in progress), Interactive Digital Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery