teamLab, “Autonomous Resonating Life and Resonating Giant Cedar Forest,” 2021, Interactive Digital Installation, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
Through digital technology, artists can alter spaces in new and noninvasive ways. Art collective teamLab is opening a new digital exhibition at Kairakuen, one of Japan’s most beloved gardens, as it celebrates its 180th anniversary in 2022. From February 1 to the end of March, this historic park will be presented to visitors in a new, creative light.
Kairakuen is referred to as one of the “Three Great Gardens of Japan,” alongside Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa and Korakuen Garden in Okayama. Teamlab has installed several interactive digital works across the park’s extensive grounds, utilizing an 800-year-old giant tree, 1,500 plum trees, a bamboo grove, pine trees, azaleas, and even a fallen tree. These works transform natural sites—which have been around since the end of the Edo Period in 1842—through projections of light, moving illustrations, and sound.
“Humans cannot recognize time longer than their own lifespans. In other words, there is a boundary in our understanding of the long continuity of time,” teamLab explains. “The forms and shapes of nature have been created over many years and have been molded by the interactions between people and nature. We can perceive this long duration of time in these shapes of nature themselves. By using the shapes, we believe we can explore the boundary in our perception of the long continuity of time.”
The Digitized Kairakuen Garden will be open from February 1 to March 31, 2022. You can learn more about the event and purchase tickets through its website. And that’s not all going on; the exhibition coincides with the 120-year-old Mito Plum Blossom Festival (February 11 – March 21), in which visitors come to admire the 100 varieties of plum trees blooming at Kairakuen.
Interdisciplinary artist group teamLab unveils a new exhibition at the historic Kairakuen Gardens in Ibaraki, Japan.
teamLab, “Walk, Walk, Walk,” Moso Bamboo Forest, 2021, Digital Installation, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi, Voices: Yutaka Fukuoka, Yumiko Tanaka © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
View this post on Instagram
teamlab: Digital Kairakuen Garden 2022 multiple interactive digital art installations inside the plum garden.
teamLab, “Life is Continuous Light” Plum Trees, 2021, Interactive Digitized Nature, Sound: teamLab © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
It will be open from February to March 31, 2022.
teamLab, “Ever Blossoming Life Tree,” Giant Taro Cedar, 2021, Digitized Nature, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
teamLab, “Concrete and Abstract,” Between Yin and Yang, 2021, Interactive Digital Nature, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
teamLab, “Resonating Pine and Azalea,” 2021, Interactive Digitized Nature, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
teamLab, “Ever Blossoming Life Tree,” Fallen Jiro Cedar, 2021, Digitized Nature, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
teamLab, “Enso in the Natural Spring,” Togyokusen, 2021, Digital Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery
Watch this video to learn more about the teamLab: Digital Kairakuen Garden exhibition:
teamLab: Website | Facebook | Instagram
Kairakuen Gardens: Website | Facebook | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by teamLab.
Related Articles:
New Exhibition in Tokyo Explores 1,500-Year History of Women’s Kimonos
‘Beyond Monet’ Exhibition Is the Largest Immersive Experience in Canada
First Immersive Exhibition Created in Mexico Celebrates Frida Kahlo’s Life and Art