teamLab | teamLab

Name: teamLab
Start: 2019-03-16
End: 2019-09-01
Location: Espacio Fundación Telefónica

teamLab

PAST EXHIBITION

Mar 16 - Sep 01, 2019Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Madrid

teamLab

PAST EXHIBITION

Mar 16 - Sep 01, 2019Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Madrid

Exhibition Concept
The exhibition brings together three great works by teamLab, an art collective aiming to explore through digital art a new way of relating human beings to nature and the world around us. - Espacio Fundación Telefónica

ARTWORKS

Black Waves: Lost, Immersed and Reborn

This is an installation made of one continuous wave. The waves projected are all connected and form a single, unbroken body of water. As we immerse and meld ourselves into the waves, we explore a continuity among people, as well as a new relationship that transcends the boundaries between people and the world.

The movement of water is simulated in a computer-generated three-dimensional space. The water is expressed as a continuous body after calculating the interactions of hundreds of thousands of particles. To visualize the waves, lines were drawn in relation to the movement of the particles. The waves created in 3-D space were then turned into an artwork in accordance with what teamLab refers to as ultrasubjective space.

In premodern Japanese painting, oceans, rivers, and other bodies of water were expressed as a series of lines. These lines give the impression of life, as though water is a living entity.  

This form of expression leads us to question why pre-modern people sensed life in rivers and oceans. Also, why did they behave as if they themselves were a part of nature? Perhaps something can be discovered by fusing the fixed objective world of today’s common knowledge with the subjective world of premodern people.

While viewing this artwork, if we feel a sense of life in the collection of lines — what can be called the subjective world of premodern people — then perhaps this is one aspect of objective recognition.

When viewing this artwork, as opposed to when watching images of waves captured by a video camera, people may feel that the boundary between themselves and the waves disappears. They feel immersed in the work, perhaps even feeling life in the collection of lines, as if the waves are luring them in. Perhaps we can find a connection to the way premodern Japanese people perceived the world and, consequently, how they behaved toward the world.

If we regard ourselves as a part of nature and consider nature not just as something to be observed, we might join pre-modern people in perceiving rivers and oceans as living entities. This is a way of seeing the world that engages us, and allows us to feel that there is no boundary between ourselves and nature.

Flutter of Butterflies, Born from Hands

Enso - Cold Light

Enso is the Zen practice of drawing a circle with a single brushstroke. This artwork depicts enso drawn as Spatial Calligraphy. The brushstroke is suspended in space, but there are moments when its circular shape is revealed as the brushstroke rotates and shifts the viewpoint.
Spatial Calligraphy is a form of calligraphy drawn in space that teamLab has been exploring since it was founded. The artwork reconstructs calligraphy in three-dimensional space to express the depth, speed, and power of the brushstroke, and that calligraphy is then flattened using the logical structure of space teamLab calls Ultrasubjective Space. The calligraphy shifts between two and three dimensions.
Back in ancient times, enso was drawn in space using sticks, to symbolize the concepts of enlightenment, truth, the universe, and equality, in a figurative manner. The circle is also a reflection of the viewer’s inner self, thus its interpretation depends on the viewer.

VISIT US

Venue Details

teamLab

Term

Mar 16 - Sep 01, 2019

Hours

Tue - Sun 10:00 - 20:00

Closed

Mondays

Admission Fee

Free

Guided Tours

*Free without reservation as of Tuesday, March 24, 2019:
Wednesdays at 10:30, 12:00 and 17:00
Fridays at 10:30 and 17:00
Sundays at 10:30
*Arranged visits with prior reservation available too.

General Information

+34 915 808 700

Website

https://espacio.fundaciontelefonica.com/evento/teamlab/

ACCESS

Address

Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Madrid
Calle de Fuencarral, 3, 28004 Madrid

Map

Metro: Gran Vía (Lines 1 and 5)

Renfe suburban trains: Sol station

Buses (urban lines): 1, 2, 46, 74, 146, 202, N16, N18, N19, N20, N21.

Rental Bicycle BiciMad: Station 21

For Media

Press Kit

ARTIST

teamLab

teamLab (f. 2001) is an international art collective. Their collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, and the natural world. Through art, the interdisciplinary group of specialists, including artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects, aims to explore the relationship between the self and the world, and new forms of perception.

In order to understand the world around them, people separate it into independent entities with perceived boundaries between them. teamLab seeks to transcend these boundaries in our perceptions of the world, of the relationship between the self and the world, and of the continuity of time. Everything exists in a long, fragile yet miraculous, borderless continuity.

teamLab’s works are in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra;  Amos Rex, Helsinki; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, Istanbul; and Asia Society Museum, New York, among others.

teamlab.art

Biographical Documents

teamLab is represented by Pace Gallery, Martin Browne Contemporary and Ikkan Art.