Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, continues to diversify its cultural offering, art galleries, institutions and museums which play a significant role in its expansion. The Department of Culture and Tourism along with the city’s leading creator of experiences Miral, plan to complete the upcoming art space — teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi — was announced in June 2022. Created by the international art collective teamLab, this venue will offer an interactive art experience.
Located in the city’s Saadiyat Cultural District – which is already home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi and soon the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi — the venue is an additional innovative cultural development of the island. Construction is set to be completed in 2024 and the 17,000 sqm building will host an immersive, multi-sensory experience aiming to promote what will be the World’s home for ‘infinite curiosity’ in 2024.
Based on the Tokyo-based collective’s innovative concept of “Environmental Phenomena,” the artworks in teamLab Phenomena do not exist independently, but are created by the environment which produces the various phenomena.
Objects like stones and man-made creations will maintain a stable structure on their own. Unlike these, the existence of the artworks in teamLab Phenomena are dependent on their environment.
The environment produces phenomena and stabilizes their structure – these stabilized phenomena are what create the existence of the artworks. Environmental phenomena are released from the material substances that have been responsible for maintaining structures of existence. Elements like air, water, and light that are a part of our daily lives are transformed by their environment into unique phenomena that become works of art. Even if people destroy the work, the work will remain in existence as long as its environment is maintained. On the contrary, the work will disappear if the environment is not maintained.
In time, people’s consciousness will expand from existence itself to the environment.
A stone can continue to exist in a closed box, sealed off from the outside world, but life cannot sustain its existence in such a box because it is created by its environment.
Visiting the teamLab studios in Tokyo to experience the prototypes for himself, the Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, HE Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak made the statements below:
“Sitting at the intersection of art, technology, nature and high-tech fantasy, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will offer a world of boundless wonder and creativity.”
“Our leadership has always said impossible is just a concept. We’re not afraid of dreaming and pushing boundaries to better connect with each other. We are committed to creating cultural experiences and narrating our stories, similarities, and differences as we believe in the diversity of our artistic expressions.”
Looking to stimulate the imagination of visitors, the experience will evolve endlessly, making it unique to each person based on the concept of “Environmental Phenomena.”
Speaking on the upcoming launch, Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab explained with the following statement:
“At teamLab Phenomena, visitors will be immersed into a world that organically changes and evolves through the participation and actions of the people in it, and it is precisely this physical experience that can expand our senses of value.”
Toshiyuki Inoko, founder of teamLab
With culture a major driver of social and economic development,the emirate is fast becoming aglobally known centre of talent and a leading producer of creative content. Abu Dhabi seeks to broaden artistic and cultural expression by providing its community and visitors with a diverse cultural programme curated to inspire creativity and knowledge development, creating a culturally active and artistically conscious city with strong links to the wider region and the world
For more information on the forthcoming teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi check out the official website.