TEAMLAB “FUTURE PARK”
HAPPENINGText: Amelia Ijiri
Future Park by teamLab, an art collective that uses digital technology to blur the boundaries between oneself and the world, is a digital art exhibition running from July 13th to September 2nd at ABENO HARUKAS Art Museum. Video installations and tactual-kinesthetic surfaces draw crowds to this seven-room exhibition.
Animals of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives © teamLab
The exhibition’s entrance piece, “Animals of Flowers, Symbiotic Lives,” features colorful, floral, and larger-than-life lions, chimpanzees, giraffe, and bears slowly lumbering alongside museum goers to a black-walled play area where children reposition traffic patterns on the floor and move blocks to create a town titled, “Giant Connecting Block Town”. In an adjacent room, children gather at knee-high collaborative tables to play “A Table Where Little People Live”—an addictive game in which players try to impose order on an imaginary world of rain, elves, ladders, fire, and the sun.
Graffiti Nature – Mountains and Valleys © teamLab
Sharing one room and taking up most of the gallery space, “Sliding through the Fruit Field” features a slide where kiddie sliders attract digital flower imagery on their descent, while “Graffiti Nature – Mountains and Valleys” is composed of an uneven bouncy surface where visitors hunt for their drawings as they’re encompassed by swimming sea life that mimics the experience of being in an underwater digital aquarium. “Story of the Time when Gods were Everywhere” is another video installation with animals that respond to touch.
Sliding though the Fruit Field © teamLab
In dark and magical spaces, teamLab’s hands-on art allows visitors to co-create artwork, producing interconnectedness, while the museum encourages preservation and sharing through social media channels, ultimately questioning art as entertainment and considering how to preserve an art experience.
Learn & Play! teamLab Future Park
Date: July 13th – September 2nd, 2018
Opening Hours: 10:00 – 20:00 *Last admission is 30 minutes before closing
Closed on Saturday, Sunday and Monday
Place: ABENO HARUKAS Art Museum
Address: 16F ABENO HARUKAS, 1-1-43 Abenosuji, Abeno-ku, Osaka
Admission: Adult 1400 yen, Middle & High School 1000 yen, Children (3 years old – elementary school) 600 yen
Tel: +81 (0)6 4399 9050
https://futurepark.teamlab.art
Text: Amelia Ijiri