While teamLab Borderless at Azabudai Hills has been all the rage since it opened early last year, teamLab Planets in Toyosu is stepping up its game, too. The digital art museum is gearing up for the January 22 opening of a large-scale expansion including 20 new artworks. Wondering what spectacles await inside? We’ve got a sneak peek for you right here.
The new extension at teamLab Planets will enlarge the digital art space by half and introduce artworks that double as educational projects. Additionally, the revamp will include upgrades to the existing Sketch Factory, where guests can take home original products featuring the designs they’ve created. The outdoor areas of teamLab Planets, including Vegan Ramen Uzu, have also been extensively renovated, offering new experiences for new and returning visitors alike.
‘Catching and Collecting Extinct Forest’ immerses visitors in a forest of extinct animals where you can learn about the animals by catching and releasing them. The interactive space allows you to ‘catch’ animals by taking photos of them via teamLab’s Catch and Collection Forest smartphone app. Once you’ve ‘collected’ an animal, they’ll be compiled in the app’s collection book where you can study the animals. When you are finished studying an animal, you can swipe it back towards a location, releasing it back into the wild. The animals featured in the space will vary by season, meaning that you’ll always find something new.
The other major new area at teamLab Planets is the ‘Athletics Forest’, where you’ll find a handful of new artworks made to immerse your entire body in and challenge yourself in different three-dimensional spaces.
Some of the highlights from the ‘Athletics Forest’ include the ‘Rapidly Rotating Bouncing Spheres in the Caterpillar House’, made up of spheres that you can jump on. These spheres rotate at high speed but stop as you approach them, so they can easily be jumped on.
‘Multi Jumping Universe’ features an expandable floor which you can jump on. The area imitates outer space, and when you jump on a star, it will begin to move and grow, following the life cycle of a star.
‘Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds’ is made up of horizontal bars in various colours which are suspended in mid-air with ropes. Visitors are encouraged to climb the bars and navigate the space.
‘Balance Stepping Stones in the Invisible World’ features stepping stones that change as they are stepped on. These stones change colours and wobble in different ways.
‘Inverted Globe Graffiti Nature – Red List’ showcases various creatures drawn by visitors coming through the space. Once you colour in the creature on the paper provided, you can watch it come to life in front of you.
‘Sliding through the Fruit Field’ features a mix of different fruits growing on a slope. As you slide down the slope, you become sunlight that helps them grow.
teamLab Planets’ existing ‘Future Park’ is also expanding its horizons with more educational artworks that come to life with the help of visitors creating these works together.
One of the new artworks in this area is ‘Autonomous Abstraction’, which features dots of light that blink and change colour in cycles unique to each dot. When the dots are close to each other, their hues and rhythm will synchronise.
Another new artwork at ‘Future Park’ is ‘Existence in the Flow Creates Vortices’. This space allows you to climb against the flow of a vortex, leaving a whirlpool behind.
In addition to the new artworks, the outdoor spaces at the museum have also been renovated and include the ‘Black Emptiness Table’ at Vegan Ramen Uzu, where you can enjoy new art while you slurp on noodles.
The ‘Orchid Glass House’ is another new space featuring the fallen orchids from the existing ‘Floating Flower Garden’. Here you can see the flowers growing again while enjoying tea and other drinks.
For more details and tickets for teamLab Planets, visit here.
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