TeamLab: Forest of Life & Future Park is an exhibition by teamLab, made up of Forest of Life, a space filled with artworks, as well as Future Park, an educational project that explores the concept of collaborative creativity.

 

In Forest of Life, people explore the artwork space, becoming immersed in the space, feeling and understanding the world through their bodies.

 

Future Park is a space for collaborative creation, or “co-creation,” where people can engage in a creative experience with others.

 

 

This artwork installation depicts a rural mountain landscape of varying elevations. The scenery instills in the viewer a feeling of eternal permanence, however with the flow of real time the scenery is continuously changing. In the spring, the rice fields are still small and lush. In summer, they begin to mature, and in fall, they turn a golden color. And with the flow of time, the insects and flowers that make an appearance also change. The movement of insects is influenced by the movement and actions of people. And as people move around, the flow of air changes and blows the rice plants or scatters flower petals in different directions.

The overall appearance of this work will hardly change with each year. However, as in nature, the scenery is actually changing, and you will never see the same scenery twice. This moment will never be repeated and can never be seen again. Seemingly unchanging landscapes go on year after year for eternity.

The work and the canvas that mediates it are separated - the canvas has become transformative. The visual illusion produced by continuous dynamic change causes the viewer to become bodily immersed in the work, and the border between the viewer and artwork dissolves. As the unified world changes, viewers may feel a sense of melting into the world, becoming one with it and with each other.

 

 

 

The seasons change gradually across the installation space.

 

A seasonal year of flowers blossom according to the changing seasons, and the place where they grow gradually moves.

The flowers bud, grow, and blossom before their petals begin to wither and eventually fade away. The cycle of growth and decay repeats itself in perpetuity. If a person stays still, the flowers surrounding them grow and bloom more abundantly. If viewers touch or step on the flowers, they shed their petals, wither, and die all at once.

Neither a prerecorded animation nor on loop, the work is rendered in real time by a computer program. The interaction between the viewer and the installation causes continuous change in the artwork; previous visual states can never be replicated, and will never reoccur.

 

 

 

This is a space where you can be three dimensionally immersed in various objects of light that move as though they are defying gravity. The items on the ground will continue to stand as if they are defying gravity, while the objects floating freely in mid-air will stick to the ceiling as if also defying the laws of physics.

These objects of light are each independent and shine brightly and go dim as if they are slowly breathing. The objects in the middle of the space and the objects floating through the air can be moved around freely.

When the objects of light are pushed over by visitors, their color will change and a tone specific to that color will ring out. Then, all of the nearby objects will react, turn the same color, and sound the same tone. The objects will continue to react to each other gradually in a chain. If a new color resonates from a distance, that means that a person is there. This will make people feel more aware of the presence of others sharing the same space.

 

 

 

When a person stands close to a character, the world that that character embodies will appear, and a new world will be created. The objects that are released from the characters go on to influence one another in the new world.

 

Behind the projected world, there is a 360-degree computer-generated space. The objects that are born from the characters are placed at various positions within that space, and the physical influences and connections between the objects are calculated in real time, producing a complex and natural world. For example, if the wind blows, the objects are subjected to its physical influence. Butterflies are frightened by fire, but attracted to flowers. Just as in nature, no two moments are repeated. The passing moments of the world are never the same and new visual worlds are constantly being created.

 

 

 

This is an interactive digital installation in which viewers can walk around freely in a space that completely surrounds them with projections on all sides.

Crows are rendered in light as they fly around the space, leaving trails of light in their paths and creating spatial calligraphy. The crows chase one another and in turn are chased themselves. When the chased crows crash into one another, they scatter, turning into flowers. The crows attempt to fly around people in the space, but when they crash into a viewer, they scatter, turning into flowers in the same way.

When you stand near a certain designated space within the artwork, the boundary between the wall and the floor disappears, the real space dissolves, and eventually you become immersed in the artwork world, and the lines drawn by the trails of the crows appear to be drawn in three dimensions in the space.

The installation is rendered in real time by a computer program, it is neither a prerecorded animation nor on loop.The installation as a whole is in constant change, previous states will never be repeated and can never be seen again.

 

 

 

This is a slide where fruit grows.

Various kinds of fruit are growing on the slope. Balls are also bouncing around.

You become the sunlight and slide down the slope. When your body collides with the balls, your sunlight energy will be transferred to them and they will go flying off in all directions. When the balls collide with the fruit, the fruit will begin to grow.

Each ball has a different role depending on its color.

For example, a light blue ball represents water: when the ball hits the seeds they sprout, bud, and blossom. When a yellow honeybee ball hits the flowers, they are pollinated and the flowers become fruit.

When a fruit is hit by a ball, new seeds are sown, leading to new life.

 

 

 

Graffiti Nature is created by you. The more animals and flowers that you draw and color, the more this nature world expands around you. Your drawing is somewhere in Graffiti Nature. Can you find it?

Animals are eaten by other animals, but if they do not eat, they will die and disappear. When the animals that you draw eat other animals, their numbers increase. Butterflies increase in places where there are flowers. All are part of one ecosystem. If you step on Crocodiles too much, they will die.

If you stand still, flowers will blossom around you. If you walk around, the flowers will scatter.

Search for your animals, and whilst making the flowers bloom, explore the world that everyone has created.