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Gulf Business
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Business
The wait is over: teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi opens to public
Images: Abu Dhabi Media Office teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, a massive 17,000-square-metre multi-sensory experience by the globally renowned Tokyo-based art collective teamLab, is now Located in the heart of Saadiyat Cultural District, the purpose-built structure is more than just a venue — it's a dynamic, breathing environment where art, science, and technology merge to ignite imagination and curiosity. A collaboration between the Department of Culture and Tourism—Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), خالد بن محمد بن زايد يشهد حفل افتتاح متحف 'تيم لاب فينومينا أبوظبي' للفنون الرقمية في منطقة السعديات الثقافية لتعزيز الابتكار الثقافي، ودعم تبادل المعارف والخبرات الفنية، ترسيخاً لمكانة الإمارة كملتقى للتواصل الثقافي والحضاري عبر المبادرات الثقافية والفنية الرائدة عالمياً. — مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@ADMediaOffice) Redefining the relationship between art and environment Unlike traditional art spaces, the installations at teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi do not exist in isolation. They are manifestations of phenomena — emerging and sustained entirely by their environment. This revolutionary concept challenges the conventional notion of art as a static object. 'The artworks in teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi do not exist independently,' explains Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab. 'The environment produces the phenomena, and the environment maintains the existence of the structure.' Inoko describes a new form of existence — one that is intangible, dynamic, and deeply interwoven with its surroundings. 'Perhaps, people's consciousness will spread from existence itself to the environment,' he adds. 'Life may be a miraculous phenomenon that emerges from a flow in an open and continuous world.' Enter an immersive world Guests will journey through extraordinary installations, where elements like air, water, and light are transformed into sensory phenomena, shaped by both the surrounding environment and visitors' interactions — offering an ever-changing, living art experience. Divided into two captivating zones — Wet and Dry — teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi invites guests to step into a world where art and audience merge. In the Dry area, interactive artworks come alive in response to visitors' movements, creating a personalised, ever-changing experience. Transitioning to the Wet area, guests follow a dedicated path into a sensory-rich environment, where fluid, tactile installations deepen the connection between art, nature, and the self. 'Morphing Continuum' Even if individual elements are separated in space and time, when a structural order appears among them, the elements transcend space and time and form a single entity. — teamLab (@teamLab_net) Visitors will experience exhibits such as Massless Suns and Dark Suns , where radiant and shadowy spheres challenge perceptions — solid yet intangible, their presence entirely dependent on the visitor's interaction. A gentle touch sends ripples of light across neighboring spheres, while purple-blue shadows take on a tangible form. Nearby, Levitation Void introduces a floating phenomenon — an energy-infused void that defies gravity. Suspended in mid-air, this entity hovers freely, responding to touch and disturbance, only to slowly rise again and return to its ethereal state. 'Levitation Void' The void that levitates in the air is not suspended by anything, nor does it have its own power. Its existence transcends the concept of mass, it levitates in the middle of the air, not on the ground or at the ceiling. — teamLab (@teamLab_net) 'Flutter of Butterflies' Flutters of butterflies appear from the ground and the walls where people touch. Through the simple interactions among the butterflies, a part of the artwork continues to create spontaneous order even as the entire flutter moves in disorder. — teamLab (@teamLab_net) A vision for the future of cultural exchange Speaking on the significance of the launch, Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi , said: 'Saadiyat Cultural District is a testament to Abu Dhabi's commitment to preserving heritage while embracing a forward-looking vision… We believe in the diversity of artistic expression and teamLab is the perfect partner to provide immersive art experiences that push the boundaries of art and technology.' He added: 'teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will offer an immersive journey that sparks infinite curiosity and imagination… Through these multi-sensory explorations, we are inspiring new generations of innovators, thinkers, and creators from Abu Dhabi and beyond.' A jewel in Saadiyat's Cultural Crown teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi is the latest addition to the ever-evolving Saadiyat Cultural District. With institutions such as Louvre Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, and Berklee Abu Dhabi already established, the District is poised to become the world's largest concentration of premier cultural and educational institutions. Soon, this artistic ecosystem will be further enriched with the opening of Zayed National Museum, Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi — each promising to deepen the city's cultural capital and global appeal. Book your journey at teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi Tickets are now available at
Arab News
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
teamLab Phenomena opens in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI: teamLab Phenomena opened its doors in Saadiyat Cultural District on Thursday, promising visitors a unique immersive experience. The Japanese multi-sensory art experience features huge transformative exhibits that aim to engage the senses of sight, sound and touch while encouraging guests to interact with the world around them. Divided into dry and wet zones, teamLab Phenomena is set to be 'somewhere where you can feel that the world is continuous, and to feel that continuity itself,' according to founder Toshiyuki Inoko. Divided into dry and wet zones, teamLab Phenomena is set to be 'somewhere where you can feel that the world is continuous, and to feel that continuity itself,' according to founder Toshiyuki Inoko. (Supplied) While it first opened in Jeddah in June last year, Inoko said that although the two experiences overlapped visually, the Abu Dhabi experience would be unique. 'Phenomena depicts ambiguous boundaries, or this idea that even if people enter an artwork and break it apart, it repairs itself. Or also transcending the notion of mass and floating material,' he said. Speaking to Arab News Japan, teamLab's global director, Takashi Kudo, said the Abu Dhabi experience introduced a brand-new concept — 'environmental phenomena.' This is rooted in triggering perception through natural yet unexplained phenomena, he explained. 'In one of the installations, water flows around visitors' feet, responding in real-time to their movements, illustrating how the environment and the individual are in constant dialogue,' Kudo said. 'We're not showing things that can be described in words. Instead, we're sharing something we feel is beautiful and that we hope people will experience emotionally. In the heart of Saadiyat Cultural District, teamLab is just one of the pieces that make up the UAE's growing arts and culture hub. (Supplied) 'When you're inside a teamLab space, you're not just seeing something, you're part of it. Your presence changes the art, and someone else's presence changes your experience. It's not about observing from the outside. It's about feeling with your body and connecting with others in that shared space.' Giving the examples of the fleeting beauty of cherry blossoms or the shifting colors of a desert sunrise, he added: 'Life is full of small phenomena. We don't know if people will like it or not. But we want to awaken curiosity because curiosity makes life beautiful.' In the heart of Saadiyat Cultural District, teamLab is just one of the pieces that make up the UAE's growing arts and culture hub. The chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Al-Mubarak, described the district as a 'puzzle or a beautiful painting.' 'Whatever way you look at it, it consists of these institutions, these cultural institutions, that all sort of continuously redefine themselves … It's all sort of based on you as an individual,' he said. Comprising seven museums and cultural institutes including the Louvre, Zayed National Museum and the Natural History Museum, Al-Mubarak said the architecture of the buildings was intentional and represented elements of the UAE. 'When you look at the architecture of the buildings of these museums, they are themed. They are a celebration of our culture and heritage. All of our buildings in the district have subtle metaphors to our heritage,' he said. Visitors can see 12 artworks at the Abu Dhabi space, including the 'Levitation Void' and 'Massless Suns and Dark Suns.' Each exhibit relies on real-time depictions and complex algorithms to ensure no two experiences are the same.
The National
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
What is teamLab? The art attraction coming to Abu Dhabi explained
TeamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, the capital's newest art attraction, will open in the Saadiyat Cultural District on April 18. It will merge art, science and technology through exhibitions across 17,000 square metres that engage sight, sound and touch, according to teamLab. It says the ever-changing installations will seamlessly blend with the architecture, making each visit unique. But who and what is teamLab? And how did they become an important name in the art world? Japanese engineering students Toshiyuki Inoko and Shunsuke Aoki, along with three other classmates, founded teamLab in 1998, while they were studying at the University of Tokyo. The group called themselves 'ultra-technologists' and consisted of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects. During the first 10 years of their project, teamLab made little profit, getting more popular with the growth of smartphone and social media use in the 2010s. The group got their big break in 2011 when Japanese artist Takashi Murakami invited them to make their international debut at the Singapore biennale. By 2014, teamLab's work had grabbed the attention of New York's Pace Gallery, which began promoting the collective's work and continues to do so. TeamLab's work centres on using technology such as laser projection and colourful lights, alongside smoke machines and reflective surfaces, to create an immersive experience for visitors. The group uses these and other methods to transform galleries and large rooms. Their work often explores the concept of borders and space, how far the eye can see and what it can recognise in the manufactured space. For teamLab, art is a living, breathing experience, one that is all around us, and that can be felt vividly in their spaces. Images of everything from universes to gardens are projected around a room, over the ceiling and the walls, bathing visitors in a world of colour. TeamLab describes its exhibitions as 'body-immersive', requiring a visitor to use all of their senses, including touch, to experience the art. At its exhibition in Tokyo, a section requires visitors to remove their shoes and walk barefoot on a grassy surface to get a fuller experience. Today, the group has permanent exhibitions in many cities around the world, including Tokyo, Jeddah, Macau, Osaka, Singapore, Okinawa and Valencia. TeamLab Planets Tokyo holds the Guinness World Record as the most visited museum (in the single art group category), after it recorded 2,504,264 visitors between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024. TeamLab continues to host temporary exhibitions while expanding its permanent spaces. This year, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will open, while teamLab Borderless Hamburg is set to open next year. Singapore is the country with the most teamLab exhibitions outside Japan with five.
Tourism Breaking News
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Tourism Breaking News
teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will open to the public on 18 April within Saadiyat Cultural District Abu Dhabi
Post Views: 25 teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will officially open its doors to the public in Saadiyat Cultural District Abu Dhabi on 18 April 2025, announced by the Department of Culture and Tourism—Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), Miral, the leading creator of immersive destinations and experiences in Abu Dhabi, and art collective teamLab. The 17,000 sqm multi-sensory art experience is operated by Miral Experiences, a subsidiary of Miral, and will include massive transformative exhibits that take guests on a sensory-rich journey that transcends the ordinary. The exhibits engage sight, sound, and touch, encouraging guests to expand the way they feel, connect and interact with the world around them. Sitting at the intersection of art, science, and technology, the artworks do not exist independently—the environment creates various phenomena that become the artwork, offering a dynamic, ever-evolving guest experience, and ensuring that no two visits will be the same. HE Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said: 'Saadiyat Cultural District is a testament to Abu Dhabi's commitment to preserving heritage while embracing a forward-looking vision. The District will convey a message of cultural diversity that will become more powerful over time, creating global connections, inspiring cultural exchange, and fostering new ways of thinking to support the region, the global South and the world. We believe in the diversity of artistic expression and teamLab is the perfect partner to provide immersive art experiences that push the boundaries of art and technology. Together, we are redefining what is possible expanding our horizons and forging deeper connections in ways never seen before.' HE added: 'Once opened, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will offer an immersive journey that sparks infinite curiosity and imagination in all who visit. At the intersection of art, technology, and nature, it will create a world of limitless wonder and creativity. Through these multi-sensory explorations, we are inspiring new generations of innovators, thinkers, and creators from Abu Dhabi and beyond.' teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will feature a constantly transforming art experience unique to Abu Dhabi, conceived by the Tokyo-based art collective teamLab. The installations are part of teamLab's concept of 'Environmental Phenomena', created through an extensive experimentation process. Housed in a purpose-built structure, conceptualised and designed by teamLab Architects and realised by teamLab Architects and Abu Dhabi-based MZ Architects, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi's architecture will play an important role in providing the exhibits with an environment to evolve freely and organically. Toshiyuki Inoko, Founder of teamLab, said: 'The artworks in teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi do not exist independently, but are created by the environment which produces the various phenomena that cause the artworks to exist. Up until now, things that humans have created have existed through matter, just like a rock, and have a stable structure in and of themselves. Unlike such things, the existence of the artworks in teamLab Phenomena are created by the environment. The environment produces the phenomena, and the environment maintains the existence of the structure. Let us call that existence environmental phenomena.' 'Existence will be freed from matter that has previously been responsible for its existence. Elements like air, water, and light that permeate our daily lives are transformed by their environment into unique phenomena that will become the existence. The boundaries of that existence are ambiguous and continuous. Even if people break the artwork apart, the work will remain in existence as long as its environment is maintained. Conversely, if the environment is not maintained, the work will disappear. Perhaps, people's consciousness will spread from existence itself to the environment. A rock will continue to exist even if it is placed in a sealed box isolated from the outside world, but life cannot maintain its existence if it is placed in such a closed box. Life is also an existence that is maintained by the environment. Life may be a miraculous phenomenon that emerges from a flow in an open and continuous world.'
CairoScene
26-02-2025
- Science
- CairoScene
teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi Opens in April With Transformative Art
The 17,000 sqm venue will introduce immersive installations where art shifts in response to natural elements. Feb 25, 2025 teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will open on April 18th, 2025, in the Saadiyat Cultural District. The 17,000 sqm, operated by Miral Experiences, will introduce immersive installations where art shifts and evolves in response to natural elements. Light, sound, and movement shape each exhibit, ensuring that no two visits are the same. Designed by Japan-based teamLab Architects in collaboration with MZ Architects, the space is built to accommodate artwork that does not exist as a fixed structure but instead takes form through its surroundings. Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab, described this approach as "environmental phenomena," where the conditions of the space generate and sustain the art itself. He explained that, unlike conventional human-made objects, which exist independently, these works depend on their environment to maintain their structure. Among the installations, 'Massless Suns and Dark Suns' features spheres of light and shadow that shift in response to movement. 'Levitation Void' presents a floating structure that rises and reconstitutes itself after disruption. The experience is designed to be fluid, unpredictable, and shaped by interaction. teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi joins a growing network of institutions within the Saadiyat Cultural District. The Louvre Abu Dhabi and Manarat Al Saadiyat are already established in the area, while the Zayed National Museum, Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi are still in development.
