3M Farfalle, Matteo Thun
Dassault Systèmes
lice’s wonderland 4.0 does truly exist. But it
is not located underground, in an indefinite place
of the old England of Victorian memory; opened
a few months ago, it is on the first floor of an industrial
building of Odaiba, the artificial island in Tokyo.
Called in Osaka as Design Ambassador for the Italian
Design Days in the world, I did a stop-over there, just
a few days after the inauguration. Feeling like a child,
I was very curious and ready to wonder; surprises
did not lack, and I felt indeed overwhelmed. Despite
the rain, the distance, and the early morning hour,
the queue was already long.
Beyond the threshold, darkness. And then light,
which immediately becomes emotion, colour, sound,
movement. Magic. In common with museums,
the new MORI BUILDING DIGITAL ART MUSEUM:
TEAMLAB BORDERLESS in Tokyo only has the
very long name, as it does not display objects
or material works, it does not historicize the past
nor bear witness to the present.
It is a unique experience that leads into the future,
more like a dream. Or a fantasy. Explaining it is not
easy, and words are missing. Anyway.
In the 10,000 square meters of darkness, light
invents images, turns into dance, creates illusions.
It illuminates the thousand lanterns following your
gestures, and floods you with a waterfall that does
not wet you. It makes the paintings live and the
drawings move. It becomes butterflies and music,
making intangible flowers bloom in the tea. It flies
along with luminous birds while they paint the sky,
and plunges us into so many different estranging and
sensorial experiences. Between fantasy and reality,
it turns adults into kids, and children into grown up.
Instead of the White Rabbit, it makes you want
to chase the lightweight elephant made of flowers
that moves away quickly on the wall, following
a path known only to him.
In this “borderless” museum, unique in the world
(for now), light opens to unimaginable scenarios.
Sure: digital technologies, projections, algorithms,
powerful computers, clever animations, the latest
generation LEDs, but above all the futuristic
anticipations of visual artists that are now the
protagonists of the most advanced design and art
panorama – such as those of the teamLab that
wanted the museum – are its secret formula.
A
Light
of wonders
Unreal but Real, Flavio Lucchini 3M, Matteo Thun
It is hard to go back to the traditional ways of art
exhibitions after the immersive experience of the
teamLab Borderless Museum, which leaves you in
awe and bewildered, certainly raising many questions.
Will the artists of tomorrow work with light or with
brushes? Will those museums and galleries that tell
the contemporary world display intangible works
or physical objects? How will the early immersive
exhibitions of the great artists of the past that
we already know evolve? Will technology, physics,
science, and mathematics be an essential part of the
new artistic expressions?
I don’t think it’s possible to go back. The next twenty
years are at the door, and they bring, like every
historical cycle does, their revolutions that change
everything. The symptoms of this close-to-art new
technological wave, which is so inclusive and exciting,
are already undeniable, and we have touched them
with our very hands. We have also seen them
at Superstudio, in Milan, during the last edition
of Superdesign Show 2019, where some installations
were in line with what is staged in the teamLab
Borderless Museum. Starting with the very tall and
thin tower designed by Matteo Thun for 3M Design:
a natural wood exterior with a reflective top that
merged with the sky, and an immersive interior with
a kaleidoscopic flight of luminous butterflies made of an iridescent film. Then, finding ourselves
in another large space, surrounded by music
and lights that danced to the rhythm of a dancer and
four robot-totems: a show of great impact proposed
by Lexus, in collaboration with the Rhizomatiks
collective, with light balls that, kept in hands,
controlled other light rays. Or, in a new hall, the 3D
projections by Dassault Systèmes with the Morphosis
architecture studio, which transformed algorithms
and mathematical calculations of very advanced
research into fascinating luminous signs, painting-like.
And finally, the traveling exhibition of Flavio Lucchini’s
sculptures, dematerialized by the technology of the
all-Italian brand Sense - immaterial Reality: truer than
reality, to be seen, photographed, and shared through
one’s smartphone. During the Design Week, other
high-tech multisensory experiences were present
in other locations in Milan, confirming its leading
role as the ever brighter capital of design.
GISELLA BORIOLI
CEO - founder Superstudio Group
and Superdesign Show
LUCE 328
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