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teamLab creates outdoor digital art exhibition at Mifuneyama Rakuen Park

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teamlab forest

Japanese art collective teamLab has created an outdoor digital art exhibition, ‘A Forest Where Gods Live’, within the Mifuneyama Rakuen Park in Takeo, Japan.

teamLab has turned a portion of the park into a garden, using the trees of the natural forest. Located in the park is the famous, 3,000-year-old sacred Okusu tree of Takeo Shrine.

teamLab’s exhibition focuses on the ongoing relationship between nature and humans, with visitors exploring the forest, rocks, and caves of Mifuneyama Rakuen.

The boundaries between man-made garden and forest are unclear, allowing guests to feel like they exist in a continuous, borderless relationship with nature.

Explore the relationship between nature and humans

“Lost in nature, where the boundaries between man-made garden and forest are unclear, we are able to feel like we exist in a continuous, borderless relationship between nature and humans,” teamLab told Forbes.

“It is for this reason that teamLab decided to create an exhibition in this vast, labyrinthine space, so that people will become lost and immersed in the exhibition and in nature.”

teamLab hopes that visitors will get lost in the exhibition and in nature, also witnessing how nature can become art.

The concept of the teamLab project is that non-material digital technology can turn nature into art without harming it – the forest and garden can be used as they are to create artworks.

Turning nature into art without harming it

“The forest, rocks, and caves of Mifuneyama Rakuen have formed over a long time, and people in every age have sought meaning in them over the millennia,” said teamLab.

“The park that we know today sits on top of this history. It is the ongoing relationship between nature and humans that has made the border between the forest and garden ambiguous, keeping this cultural heritage beautiful and pleasing.”

The Asian Art Museum’s new pavilion will host teamLab: Continuity, an immersive experience featuring the digital artworks of teamLab.

‘A Forest Where Gods Live’ exhibition is open to the public from July 22 until November 8.

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Bea Mitchell

Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 10 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.

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