Once upon a teamlab
China Daily | Updated: 2020-02-15 11:20
The show is comprised of various different teamLab ecosystems, almost as though moving through the cosmos on separate planets. Through The Infinite Crystal Universe, people can use their smartphones to select elements that make up the universe by dragging and releasing them. Each element of the universe sent into the work then influences the other elements and is constantly changing depending upon the presence of people in the space. It is thus an evolving but never finite work.
In Mountain of Flowers and People, the seasons change gradually across the installation space. The cycle of growth and decay repeats itself in perpetuity. If a person stays still, the flowers surrounding them grow and bloom abundantly. If viewers touch or step on the flowers, plants shed their petals, wither and die all at once. One key aspect to teamLab's offering is that the film is not a prerecorded animation, nor on loop, but rendered in real time by a computer program. Again, interaction and immersion on the part of the viewer causes continuous change in the cycle of the artwork; previous visual states can never be replicated and will never reoccur in the same way. Art doesn't just replicate nature; it becomes second nature.