Epson, the laser projection specialist, provided over 500 high lumen laser projectors and lenses for the new teamLab Borderless museum in Shanghai.
Epson is pleased to present teamLab Borderless Shanghai, of which it is the lead sponsor. The museum opened in November 2019 and follows the success of teamLab Borderless in Toyko. The immersive art experience is the work of the teamLab collective of ultratechnologists and is operated by Shanghai Dadi Chengtay Culture Technology Co., Ltd.
The teamLab collective aims to ‘navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, design and the natural world.’ Covering 6,600 square metres (71,000 square feet), the new museum in Shanghai is home to more than 50 original digital artworks and interactive installations.
Artainment
Over 100 members of teamLab designed, programmed and built teamLab Borderless Shanghai, and the experience is supported by more than 500 high lumen Epson laser projectors and lenses, totalling around 3 million lumens. The installation took three and a half months.
The museum aims to remove the boundaries between human and nature, immersing visitors in a world of digital artworks, allowing them to become a part of the work themselves as the images move around, form connections and react to the surroundings. Guests are free to explore the four worlds that comprise the museum without a map or guide, in order to enjoy a seamless experience.
These digital artworks react when visitors interact with them, for instance, if they touch a flower, the petals will begin to fall, or if they come across a digital inhabitant they will receive a friendly hello. In addition to this, the artworks also change by themselves over time.
A technological achievement
While the teamLab collective aims for the technology behind the experience to be invisible, Epson invited some AV experts to visit and comment on the technological achievements of the project:
Josh Miller, Director, DJWillrich, says: “I have to admit to starting my visit looking for faults. With the predominantly dark backgrounds being used, I was fully expecting to see issues with the black levels on blends.
“Colour uniformity was also on my checklist, with such a large number of projectors there were bound to be some issues. However, after 10 minutes of sceptical exploration, which proved to be fruitless, the imagery took over and I was just another wide-eyed visitor enjoying this exceptional experience.”
Sid Lobb, Head of Vision & integrated Networks, Creative Technologies says: “The experience I had at teamLab was one of a kind. I’ve seen a lot of projection installations and generally look for the technology behind it rather than take in the experience.
“This time however the use of technology was seamlessly blended in with some very creative use of lights and mirrors, and so perfectly complemented the experience that I almost forgot to figure out how it had been done! The technical challenges to achieve the mapping, while balancing linearity and consistent resolution must have been immense.
Fantastic use of Epson solutions
“The designers had made fantastic use of Epson’s vivid colour reproduction everywhere, and you could see that some of the exhibits couldn’t have been realised without the unique zero offset capabilities of the X02 lens and the compact nature of the L1755 15K projectors,” adds Lob.
“The Tea Ceremony especially is one not to be missed and one of the best object tracking demonstrations I’ve seen.”
Repeating the success of teamLab Tokyo
This new venture is expected to follow in the footsteps of the successful teamLab Borderless Tokyo, which saw more than a million visitors in just 5 months after opening. While numbers have been down so far this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the teamLab collective reports than the Shanghai location is now seeing more visitors and is likely to repeat the success of the Tokyo location.
Takashi Kudo, teamLab, says: “In Shanghai, there are many new installations and artworks, and certain exhibits are much larger than their Japanese counterparts. What the two spaces do share though is a similar feeling of borderlessness. We’re very appreciative that China and the local community have given us an opportunity to open a museum here.”
Earlier this year, Epson announced that its laser projection technology helped to transform a hall at Chailey Heritage Foundation into a new state-of-the-art multi-purpose area. The Foundation is one of the UK’s leading centres for children and young people with complex neurodisabilities
