Since opening in April, teamLab Phenomena in Saadiyat Cultural District has drawn visitors into a world shaped by light, sound and movement.
Now the digital art attraction in Abu Dhabi has opened two new rooms, adding to its growing line-up of installations that explore the relationship between art, environment and perception.
For the Tokyo-based art collective, these ideas sit at the core of its work. Existence and perception, says Takashi Kudo, global brand director at teamLab, are central to how the group approaches art. Rather than creating static pieces, the collective is interested in how artworks are experienced and how they shift depending on space, movement and the presence of people within them.
These themes run throughout teamLab Phenomena and continue to be evident in the two new installations, Megaliths in the Roots Garden and Massless Suns and Dark Suns.
Megaliths in the Roots Garden expands on an existing work that had previously been limited to a single level. Now complete, the installation spans two floors, offering connected but contrasting perspectives.
The upper level features a forest-like environment, while the newly opened space below shifts attention underground, focusing on roots, soil and the unseen systems that support life beneath the surface.
In the forest section, towering structures double as digital screens, arranged to resemble trees and stone formations. Projected light moves slowly across their surfaces, while mirrors visually extend the space, creating the impression of a forest that stretches far beyond the physical room. As visitors move through the installation, colours and patterns subtly shift, altering the mood without following a fixed narrative or sequence.
The change is immediate when heading downstairs. The lower level is noticeably quieter and darker, with low-lying fog drifting through the space. Soft light filters through the haze to illuminate roots that hang freely in the air, appearing suspended rather than anchored in soil.
Kudo said the intention is to create an environment where roots can continue growing without soil, allowing them to take shape over time and gradually strengthen the conceptual link between the two levels. The roots are not decorative elements, but living components that may develop as the installation ages.
The idea of perception shaping experience continues in Massless Suns and Dark Suns. Set inside a dome-shaped room, it explores light as something that exists only through human perception, rather than as a physical object.
Countless points of light are scattered across the walls and ceiling, forming shifting patterns that change. When gathered at the centre, visitors appear in silhouette against the glowing backdrop, which at times resembles a star-filled night sky.
While the effect is primarily visual, the shape of the dome also influences sound. Voices and footsteps echo softly around the room, an effect that, Kudo said, was not deliberately engineered but emerged naturally because of the room's structure.
Together, the two installations reflect teamLab Phenomena’s ethos of “living art” or works that evolve and respond to their environment. Rather than offering a single, fixed experience, the installations are shaped by movement, presence and perception, ensuring that no two visits are quite the same.
