Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat cultural district has added a new landmark facility – the teamLab Phenomena gallery, which combines art, science and advanced technology, officially opened here on April 18, The National has reported. This is the newest cultural space in the UAE capital, occupying 17,000 square meters of interactive exhibits that engage not only the eyes and ears, but also the tactile senses. According to the creators, the installations are constantly changing, organically merging with the architecture, which makes each visit unique.
The project was implemented by the international teamLab collective – a Japanese art and technology group founded in 1998 by Toshiyuki Inoko, Shunsuke Aoki and their colleagues from the University of Tokyo. They united under the slogan “ultra-technologists” — a group that includes artists, engineers, programmers, CG animators, architects and mathematicians. Since then, teamLab has grown into an influential name at the intersection of innovation and art.
Technological art that erases the boundaries of space
The first years of teamLab’s existence did not bring commercial success, but with the development of digital technologies and social networks in the 2010s, the collective gained widespread recognition. A decisive breakthrough came in 2011, when the famous Japanese artist Takashi Murakami invited them to present their work at the Singapore Biennale, and in 2014 the team attracted the attention of New York’s Pace gallery, which still collaborates with them.
teamLab’s calling card is fascinating multimedia installations that use laser projection, colored light, smoke, mirror surfaces and other technologies to create a full-fledged spatial experience. Their exhibitions challenge the usual perception of borders, opening up illusory landscapes where art literally “surrounds” a person. In one of the halls in Tokyo, for example, visitors walk barefoot on the grass surface to immerse themselves in the sensation as much as possible.
Global presence and world recognition
The idea of teamLab is to turn art into a living substance that can be seen, heard, touched. Their installations are like visual symphonies that transport the viewer into a universe where the walls, floor and ceiling become a canvas for projections. The collective calls their exhibitions “body immersion”, emphasizing that the viewer must fully engage with the experience with all their senses.
Today, teamLab has permanent spaces in Tokyo, Jeddah, Macau, Singapore, Valencia, Okinawa, Osaka, and now in Abu Dhabi. Their teamLab Planets Tokyo museum even entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most visited museum dedicated to a single art group: from April 2023 to March 2024, it was visited by 2,504,264 people. This year, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi appeared, and in 2025, teamLab Borderless Hamburg is scheduled to open. From now on, the UAE capital has another significant art attraction that combines culture, innovation and incredible emotions in a single space – an experience that blurs the lines between the viewer and the work.