Tokyo is home to one of the world’s largest digital art museums – MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless. Visitors are invited to touch the art, to become one with it and to rethink the idea of a museum.
Located in Tokyo’s Odaiba district, it combines science, art, technology, design and images of the natural world, with simulations generated by 520 computers and 470 high-tech projectors. There are more than 107.000 square feet of space and 50 interactive displays that blend into one another over five different zone. The name chosen for the museum is not coincidental – it encourages visitors to break down the barriers between them and the art, to immerse themselves into the artistic act.
“If an artist can put thoughts and feelings directly into people’s experiences, artworks too can move freely, form connections and relationships with people, and have the same concept of time as the human body,” said Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab.
“Artworks can transcend boundaries, influence and sometimes intermingle with each other. In this way, all the boundaries between artist, people and artworks, dissolve and the world teamLab Borderless is created.”
There are five connected zones in the museum. “Borderless World,” the first zone, is an interactive digital landscape where visitors are encouraged to create their own path. People walk through digitized waterfalls, “touch” luminescent birds and wonder through computer generated forests and fields. The novelty about these zones is that they are constantly changing, from season to season, so each visit is unique.
The second zone is the “Athletics Forest,” a zone that aims to get people moving. Visitor have to climb on flashing poles, bounce on a trampoline through a simulation of a galaxy or balance on hanging boards that dangle in a show of lights.
The museum also has an area dedicated to children, called “Future Park”. Here the kids can interact with the art through various games and activities, that help them expand their imagination and also learn more about science, by playing.
The next area it’s called “Forest of Lamps”. Visitors are surrounded by a sea of colorful lamps that light up when touched. Finally, everything ends with a serene area, called “En Tea House”, where visitors can sip a cup of tea and see how, through the help of augmented reality, digital flowers bloom inside their cups.
The museum’s five different spaces are on permanent display, though the nature of digitized art means the installations will be constantly changing.
