teamLab digitizes nature for interactive light experience in japan

nature, art & time — teamlab’s digitized kairakuen garden

from february 1st until march 31st 2022, a 180-year-old garden in mito, japan, will be transformed into an immersive light experience created by art collective teamLab. called ‘digitized kairakuen garden 2022’, the installation explores how digital technology can turn nature into art without harming it. the work also focuses on the theme of time and lengths of time that may be unfathomable to us—kairakuen garden was created in 1842 and it’s home to a giant 800-year-old tree.

‘humans cannot recognize time longer than their own lifespans,’ says teamLab. ‘in other words, there is a boundary in our understanding of the long continuity of time. 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.’

teamLab, autonomous resonating life and resonating giant cedar forest © teamLab

the light experience is composed of eight individual artworks, each of which transforms the natural features of the park into art. featured works include autonomous resonating life and resonating giant cedar forest, where illuminated ovoids and trees change in color as if they are breathing. when pushed by visitors, the ovoids wobble and change color, beginning a chain reaction that spreads through the rest of the forest.

teamLab, life is continuous light – plum trees © teamLab

celebrating a 120-year-old plum blossom festival

the digitized kairakuen garden 2022 exhibition coincides with the mito plum festival. to mark this fact, and the 3,000 plum trees planted in kairakuen garden, one of the works created by teamLab includes an interactive artwork titled life is continuous light – plum trees. 1,500 of the plum trees in kairakuen garden are fixed with an autonomous light that shines brightly then fades. when people get closer, the light in the trees changes color and a sound specific to that hue is emitted. similar to the ovoids, the lights radiate outward to the surrounding trees one by one.

teamLab, life is continuous light – plum trees © teamLab

visitors will also find ever blossoming life tree – giant taro cedar, an installation that pays tribute to the giant 800-year-old tree with a colorful display of seasonal flowers projected onto the tree’s massive trunk. flowers are born, grow, bud, bloom, and eventually scatter, wither, and disappear. the flowers are in a continuous cycle of life and death, repeating forever.

the nightly exhibition includes a geometric artwork that generates a set of lines when someone steps inside, turning the forest into a flattened plane. there’s also a group of figures who walk along the garden’s bamboo forest and light in the form of a brushstroke that circles a natural spring and changes according to who’s viewing it.

each installation is created by a computer program that continuously renders the artwork in real-time; not a pre-recorded image that is played back. it continuously changes, meaning what is seen in one moment will not be seen again. the light experience will be on view in mito’s kairakuen garden every night between 18:00 – 20:30 from february to the end of march.