TeamLab will have a permanent address on Saadiyat Island, adding to the growing list of major institutions opening in Abu Dhabi's Cultural District.
The international art collective, known for curating immersive, technology-driven exhibitions around the world, will open teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi in 2024, in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi and Miral.
The 17,000-square-metre structure, nicknamed the Home for Infinite Curiosity, will feature original and constantly changing art and technology. The installations within the space will be “designed to flow” with the amoebic architecture, teamLab said.
“The architecture, conceptualised by teamLab and realised by Abu Dhabi-based MZ Architects, plays an important role in providing the artworks with an environment to evolve freely and organically, as if they were life forms themselves.
“The experience will be unique to each visitor, changing with each visit, as they discover a place in which to endlessly explore and transcend the limits of their imagination.”
To celebrate the official opening of the project, DCT — Abu Dhabi has launched a preview exhibition at Mamsha Al Saadiyat.
The event, running until July 17, features two immersive experiences that offer a glimpse at the installations that will be presented at teamLab Phenomena.
The first, titled Waves of Light, is in a wide and meandering hallway that features floor-to-ceiling projections of light strands, merging and moving like the tide. The meditative, ambient soundtrack in the space is inspired by the sound of the ocean.
The digital installation aims to instil a feeling of unity and references the interconnectedness of the globe’s oceans.
The hallway leads to a presentation about teamLab Phenomena, showing visitors what they can expect from the space.
The second experience, Resonating Microcosms — Solidified Light Color, is more interactive, experimenting with the concepts of colour and sound through large, translucent ovoids.
Dozens of egg-shaped structures are arranged in an expansive, mirrored room, giving you the feeling of an infinitely replicating area. As visitors move the ovoids change the light and trigger a sound.
When the ovoids are moved in unison, a digital chime resonates, and when visitors are still, the ovoids flicker slowly and emit a more subdued sound.
“Sitting at the intersection of art, technology, nature and high-tech fantasy, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will offer a world of boundless wonder and creativity to all who visit, encouraging the new perspectives that are so essential to a thriving future,” said Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of DCT — Abu Dhabi.
“The teamLab Phenomena experience will be unique to Abu Dhabi, reinforcing the emirate’s position as a destination of distinction.
“Providing a journey which will trigger the senses, nurture curiosity, spark imagination and awaken a thirst for knowledge, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi fully supports our commitment to inspire a new generation of innovators and creators in the emirate and beyond.”
Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab, said: “TeamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi is based on teamLab’s new concept in which the existence of the artworks are created by the phenomena produced by their environment.
“The artworks in teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi do not exist independently but are created by the environment which produces the various phenomena.
“Visitors will be immersed into a world that organically changes and evolves through the participation and actions of the people in it, and it is precisely this physical experience that can expand our senses of value.”
The Saadiyat Cultural District is currently home to Louvre Abu Dhabi and Manarat Al Saadiyat, however, a number of museums and cultural centres are being developed for the area. These include the Zayed National Museum, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, the Abrahamic Family House and the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.
What to expect from Jeddah's teamLab digital art museum when it opens in 2023:
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More than 50 digital artworks will feature at Jeddah's new digital art museum, teamLab Borderless, when it opens in 2023. Pictured here, 'The Way of the Sea, Flying Beyond Borders - Colours of Life'. All photos: teamLab -
The 15-metre tall teamLab composition 'Golden Sand Waterfall' will be an exclusive installation in Jeddah. -
'Megalith Flames' is another artwork that will be unveiled at the museum in Jeddah when it opens next year. -
'Birth', a composition by the teamLab group, which was founded in Japan in 2001. -
'Typhoon Balls and Weightless Forest of Resonating Life' by teamLab is another work that goes beyond conventional artistic barriers. -
The immersive 'Universe of Water Particles on a Rock where People Gather' by teamLab. -
'Forest of Resonating Lamps'. -
'Universe of Water Particles on Au-dela Des Limites'. -
A visitor takes in teamLab's 'Forest of Resonating Lamps_Spring Mountain'. -
Another aspect of teamLab's 'Forest of Resonating Lamps'. -
'Soft Terrain and Granular Topography_Spring'. In Jeddah in 2023, visitors will be able to experience teamLab's work for themselves. -
'Red in the Blue II' by teamLab. Jeddah is one of the collective's destinations as it moves outside its base in Tokyo. -
'Memory of Topography_Autumn_Autumn Leaves' by teamLab. -
'Forest of Flowers and People' by teamLab. -
'Wander through the Crystal World' by teamLab. -
'Soft Terrain and Granular Topography_Spring' by teamLab. -
'Memory of Topography_Autumn_Sweet Olive' by teamLab. -
'Reversible Rotation, Flying Beyond Borders - One Stroke, Cold Light' by teamLab. -
'Rapidly Rotating Bouncing Sphere Caterpillar House' by teamLab. -
'Memory of Topography_Summer_Rain' by teamLab. -
A view of teamLab Borderless Tokyo, which opened in 2018. -
'Forest of Flowers and People Lost' by teamLab.
