ART CITIES:Palo Alto-teamLab
teamLab is an interdisciplinary group whose collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, technology, design, and the natural world. Since its establishment in March 2001, the group has been at the cutting edge of the digital art industry, working to create a range of captivating works, exploring the idea of “Ultra Subjective Space”.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Pace Gallery Archive
To explore the idea of “Ultra Subjective Space”, the shallow spatial structure of traditional Japanese painting teamLab starts with three-dimensional computer models and uses mathematical techniques to create flattened perspectives which then form the basis for various animated experiences. teamLab’s solo exhibition “Continuous Life and Death at the Now of Eternity” feature six monitor works in various scales. As in Japanese styles as varied as Ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period to contemporary Manga illustrations, figures and objects in teamLab’s compositions exist on a single plane of depth focusing on vertical and horizontal relationships to express dimensionality. It is different but equivalent to western one-point perspective as a system for representing space. Compared to classical western space, the viewer does not hold a dominant perspective over the subject matter but rather, is immersed within an integrated experience with it. Neither subordinate nor superior to western perspective, the implication of this alternative vantage point raises questions regarding how different cultures perceive the world. For instance, what does it mean when systems perceived as opposites are equally true and sustainable? The exhibition includes “Continuous Life and Death at the Now of Eternity” (2017) a nine-monitor work of the same name that generates images of flowers and plants, evolving and changing in real time, and never repeating itself. New multi-monitor works include “Waves of Light” (2018) a continuous loop of mesmerizing motion of white waves on a gold ground. The movement of waves is simulated in a computer-generated three-dimensional space. The water is expressed as a continuous body after calculating the interactions of hundreds of thousands of particles. To visualize the waves, the behavior of the particles of the water was then extracted and lines were drawn in relation to the movement of the particles. “Reversible Rotation – Continuous, Black in White” (2018) in which calligraphic lines roam from screen to screen as three-dimensional forms on a two-dimensional surface. Another example of spatial calligraphy. “Enso” (2017) is the Zen practice of drawing a circle with a single brush stroke. This artwork depicts an Enso drawn as Spatial Calligraphy. The brush stroke is suspended in space but the viewpoint changes to reveal the circle Enso. teamLab has been working on Spatial Calligraphy since the collective formed. A new interpretation of traditional calligraphy, Spatial Calligraphy reconstructs calligraphy in three-dimensional space and expresses the depth, speed and power of the brush stroke. Two additional single channel digital works featured in the exhibition include “Chrysanthemum Tiger” from “Fleeting Flower Series” (2017) a brightly colored continuous loop of a tiger rendered with thousands of flowers forming and dissolving before the viewer. In this series, everything exists on a fragile continuity of life that knows no boundaries and has continued for a long, long time. The image of a tiger appears in chrysanthemum flowers that are born and blossom. In time the flowers scatter. At the moment each flower scatters that part of the tiger scatters. And “Impermanent Life” (2017) an endlessly evolving, abstracted natural image, eliciting a meditation on the subtle quality of change.
Info: Pace Gallery, 229 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, Duration: 15/11/18-13/1/19, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-19:00, sun 11:00-17:00, www.pacegallery.com
