The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), Miral, the leading creator of immersive destinations and experiences in Abu Dhabi, and teamLab have announced that the new teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi attraction is now 70 percent completed.
Large-scale immersive artwork spaces designed by the internationally recognised and multidisciplinary Tokyo-based art collective teamLab will be housed in the multisensory art experience at Saadiyat Cultural District. These spaces will inspire visitors’ curiosity, imagination, and creativity by bridging the gap between art and technology.
The gigantic project, which has a gross floor area of 17,000 square metres, is developing steadily. The reinforced concrete structure is now complete, while the artwork spaces are currently being built.
New immersive art experience for Abu Dhabi
The concept and design of teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will be crucial in giving the artworks a space to develop naturally and freely. As a component of teamLab’s new concept, Environmental Phenomena, the architecture for teamLab Phenomena has been conceptualised from the outside in as well as the inside out, resulting in a framework that encompasses various settings that generate distinct phenomena.
Jonathan Brown, chief portfolio officer of Miral, says: “Together with our partners, Miral’s vision for developing teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi is to provide a captivating cultural journey that brings a new realm of educational exploration and creative discovery to the emirate. The curated, experiential space will add yet another outstanding experience to Miral’s portfolio of world-class experiences and attractions, appealing to visitors from across the globe.”
Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab, adds: “A key characteristic of teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi is the environment and the various phenomena created by it. The environment stabilises the structure of these phenomena, and the stabilised phenomena become the artworks themselves. In other words, unlike stones or man-made creations that can maintain a stable structure on their own, the artworks at teamLab Phenomena do not exist independently, but are dependent on their environment.
“Even if people break the work apart, the work will remain in existence, as long as its environment is maintained. On the contrary, the work will disappear if the environment is not maintained. In time, people’s consciousness will expand to include the environment. A stone can continue to exist in a closed box, sealed off from the outside world, but life cannot sustain its existence in such a box. Life is a miraculous phenomenon that emerges from a flow in a continuous world.”
Recently, Tokyo’s teamLab Borderless unveiled three new installations ahead of the move to its new home. Formerly located at Tokyo’s Odaiba waterfront, the digital art experience closed in August 2022 and will reopen at Azabudai Hills in February 2024. Created by the teamLab art collective, teamLab Borderless is a world of artworks without boundaries that move out of rooms and influence each other.
