Tokyo-based teamLab is a group of 9 creators- artists, video, sound designers, and programmers- who transform spaces with their interactive installations. Their most recent installation “Flowers and People – Gold and Dark” is now on view at the Japan Society in New York. It is part of a larger exhibition that includes works by Manabu Ikeda and Hisashi Tenmyouya, their “Garden of Unearthly Delights”. A monster tsunami has just uprooted a major city. teamLab’s contribution represents a perpetual blooming and withering of life. As seen in this video, sensors pick up the viewer’s movements, prompting paintings of flowers to bloom and wilt into a digital garden. The reaction of the peice is completely spontaneous and no two experiences are alike. Just as “a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a tsunami”, each person’s actions dictate the life and death of the world around them.
“Flowers and People – Gold and Dark” by teamLab is on view at Japan Society through January 11th, 2015.