teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi has an opening date. The new immersive art experience is to debut on 18 April in the Saadiyat Cultural District.
The 17,000-square-metre destination is operated by Miral Experiences and includes multi-sensory exhibits that engage sight, sound and touch.
Conceived by Tokyo-based art collective teamLab, the new site offers an experience unique to Abu Dhabi and is housed in a purpose-built structure.
Exhibits include ‘Massless Suns and Dark Suns’, where spheres of light and darkness meet “to challenge perceptions of reality”, teamLab said.
Another exhibit, ‘Levitation Void’, features a moving black circle, or void, “that is born and maintained by its environment”, said teamLab.
Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab, said the artworks in Abu Dhabi’s teamLab “do not exist independently, but are created by the environment which produces the various phenomena that cause the artworks to exist”.
UAE’s new immersive art experience
“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,” he said.
“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.”
As above, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi is part of the Saadiyat Cultural District, set to be the world’s largest collection of world-class cultural and educational institutions.
The expanding district is already home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which will soon be joined by the Zayed National Museum, Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi and a Guggenheim museum
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, the emirate’s culture and tourism department, said: “Saadiyat Cultural District is a testament to Abu Dhabi‘s commitment to preserving heritage while embracing a forward-looking vision.”
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.”
Images courtesy of teamLab and Miral
