ikrsek- Looking Outwards -1

United, Fragmented, Repeated and Impermanent World 

teamLab’s installations in the Japan Society’s 2013/2014 exhibition, “Garden of Unearthly Delights” was my first introduction to the use of code/computer based programming as an artistic medium. Specifically, the work that comes to mind is an installation known as United, Fragmented, Repeated and Impermanent World which was an interactive wallpaper of sorts. The room in which it was installed  was lit only by the projections spanning across each wall – which were a plethora of intensely pigmented, pixelated depictions of flowers, trees, water, and nature. As you approached, depending on how you would move your hand or head, cameras would register the movement and respond with blooming flowers, unfurling vines and rippling water (a soft humming tune also played in the background along with some auditory feedback matching the reactions the wallpaper environment had to your presence). It was an amazing interaction, particularly since I’d never seen or let alone heard of code in such a context before, and is what inspired me to take this course and pursue HCI alongside my art career.

teamLab itself is a group of creators: artists, programmers, architects,engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, etc. who collaborate in order to create moving pieces of work that marry the boundaries between art, science, and technology through a unifying creativity. They always have a multitude of people working on projects and as such, have many different sources of inspiration – but what seems to be the most prominent source of inspiration for them is their own drive to create things that go beyond the traditional confines of what we consider art or science, and in doing so – to change people’s minds about the possibilities around them, expand horizons if you will. They have multiple locations (In Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong), and are fairly well known amongst the new media world.

 

below is a link to the teamLab website: https://www.teamlab.art