teamLab

P: Can you briefly walk us through your creative process (from the initial idea to production to installation)?

teamLab: Creating artwork is always difficult and our works are created by a team of hands-on experts through a continuous process of creation and thinking. Although the large concepts are always defined from the start, the project goal tends to remain unclear, so we need the whole team to create and think as we go along. Once the concept of the project is set, we gather specialized members related to the work and think more finely. For example, the Forest of Flowers and People (2018): Lost, Immersed and Reborn, which is in teamLab Borderless in Tokyo, was created with a specialist who creates 3D CG flower model and animation, a 3D software programmer, an engineer who designs equipment such as projectors, a software programmer who localizes and integrates dozens of projectors within the space, an architect, and so on.

After we gather the project goal and technical feasibility also goes hand in hand. This is why the goal of the artwork becomes more clearly defined as the team progresses in its work.

P: Do you see any sort of relationship between the kind of digital media you use in your work and “everyday” sorts of digital technology like video games and smartphones?

teamLab: Video games, smartphones, and the internet are all interactive in the sense that you have to intentionally involve yourself by logging in. What we are focused on is connecting this sense of interactivity with art. But unlike smartphones and other sorts of technology that are meant for personal use, we want to make digital technology that is usable by multiple people at once. In traditional art exhibitions, the presence of other viewers is an obstruction; you feel lucky if you happen to be alone at an exhibition. But by digitizing a space, we can indirectly change the relationships between the people inside. 

Our work is interactive, meaning that it responds directly to your physical presence—to your touch, to your movements—and thus, you alter and become a part of the artwork itself. When there are other visitors in the space with you, the artwork changes based on their presence as well. And if that change is beautiful, the presence of others can be something beautiful as well. By connecting digital technology and art, we think the presence of others can be made more positive.

P: Your exhibitions blur the boundary between reality and digital existence. To some extent, in experiencing your work, the visitor starts to feel closer to the digital realm than to reality.

teamLab: That is interesting to hear. Our artwork is participatory by making it interactive. The relationship between the artwork and the individual then becomes a relationship between the artwork and the group. Whether or not another viewer was present within that space five minutes before, or the particular behavior exhibited by the person next to you suddenly becomes an element of great importance. At the very least, compared to traditional art viewing, people will become more aware of those around them. Art now has the ability to influence the relationship between the people standing in front of the artworks.

P: How does the decision process work behind the dimension of each exhibition? Each space varies in size and shape and wonders how this component acts in providing a better experience for the audience.

teamLab:  In most cases, we look at the space and then work on the artwork, rather than creating an artwork then searching for space. One of the advantages of digital technology is that it can be produced to suit any space— you could project an artwork on a 6-meter-wide wall, or you could project it on a 60-meter-wide wall. In this sense, we make use of the dimensions and spatial qualities of an exhibition space when creating the artwork. Of course, it would also be wonderful if we could create an entire space from scratch one day.

P: Your exhibitions are distinguished for their awe-inspiring computer-generated visuals and animation, but the sound is also an important, ubiquitous feature of your work. How do you build soundtracks and what specific role does sonic experience play in your immersive exhibitions?

teamLab: This varies from work to work and exhibition to exhibition, but we often create our sounds and music in-house or with a frequent collaborator Hideaki Takahashi. For many installations, sounds are designed to respond to the presence of visitors. 

For example, in our new permanent exhibition Resonating Life in the Acorn Forest, the artworks react in both visual and aural ways to visitors. The exhibition features over 100 light-responsive ovular sculptures spread across the ground of a large wooden area. At night, these ovoid sculptures radiate liquified light colors, illuminating the surrounding garden in bright blues and pinks. When a visitor touches an ovoid, a sound resonates out, and the ovoid changes color. The touch provokes a chain reaction, and the ovoids around it also respond one after another, emitting the same light color and making the same tone sound that continues to resonate out.