Lying in an endless field of blooming flowers. Wading through a pool teeming with rainbow koi fish. Sinking into a plush floor like it’s a black hole. These are only a few of the experiences offered at teamLab Planets Tokyo.
Since its 2018 launch in Japan, teamLab has curated immersive environments that abstract the boundaries between art and its audience. The art collective’s museum encapsulates several large-scale artwork spaces, inviting visitors to participate in unique exercises such as creating a collaborative Pointillist artwork or pushing illuminated spheres to change their color. No matter the conceit, participation is what ultimately activates each artwork.
On January 22, 2025, teamLab Planets Tokyo will open its doors to an expansion that nearly doubles its total area. The Athletics Forest is one of the more ambitious additions, and comprises six separate areas for visitors to explore.
The Caterpillar House, for example, is composed of vibrant spheres that rotate at high speed, but once approached, they become easier to step on. Aerial Climbing similarly encourages physical engagement, featuring horizontal bars of varying colors upon which visitors can climb while suspended in the air.
“Humans perceive the world with their bodies and think with their bodies,” Toshiyuki Inoko, teamLab’s founder, explains in a statement. “We started Athletics Forest with the hopes to enhance three-dimensional and higher-dimensional thinking.”
The expansion also includes the Catching and Collecting Forest, a learning space inspired by the concept of Catch, Study, Release. Extinct animals roam the room’s towering walls, ready to be caught by visitors via a dedicated smartphone app. Once captured, the app provides information about the animal through a collection book and subsequently releases the animal back to the iridescent walls.
TeamLab Planets Tokyo has also incorporated a sketching lab, areas dedicated to collaborative art creation, and two art installations in its expansion. To learn more, visit the teamLab website.
Known for its immersive installations, teamLab Planets Tokyo has recently unveiled an expansion that nearly doubles its total area.
“Balance Stepping Stones in the Invisible World.”
“Beating Earth.”
“Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds.”
“Autonomous Abstraction.”
“Sketch Waterfall Droplets.”
The expansion features several new large-scale artwork spaces, including the Athletics Forest and the Catching and Collecting Forest.
“Catching and Collecting Extinct Forest.”
“Existence in the Flow Creates Vortices.”
“Flutter of Butterflies from the Caterpillar House.”
teamLab Planets Tokyo specializes in immersive installations, offering rich and sensory visual experiences.
“Multi Jumping Universe.”
“Nursery Lamps in Spontaneous Order.”
“Rapidly Rotating Bouncing Spheres in the Caterpillar House.”
“Sliding through the Fruit Field.”
“Waterfall Droplets, Flowing Down a Slope.”