Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN FEB 2019 56 t eamLab has been creating digital artwork since its establishment in 2001. While simultaneously running a mainstream art business selling the artwork they create to collectors through galleries, they also have many space works that are difficult to “own”, so they have been developing art museum exhibits and performance-type pieces using the world as their stage. A recent success includes a permanent exhibit in Singapore and they have also produced large scale exhibitions in the United States. While busy with their international art activities, teamLab found itself wanting to set up “some sort of big, permanent exhibit in Tokyo”. The result was the “Mori Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: EPSON teamLab Borderless”. teamLab Borderless is making waves as a brand new “Tokyo magnetic field” that is attracting people from all over the world. This is a world where you can wander, explore and make new discoveries, without a single border. “At first we were fumbling around with no idea about the size of the space we wanted, or even what experience we were going to provide,” explains Akitae Matsumoto, representative of teamLab Kids and part of the project 2 001年の設立以来、デジタルアート作品を作り続けてきたチ ームラボ。創った作品をギャラリーを通じてコレクターに販 売するアート本流のビジネスを行ないながら、所有するの が難しい空間作品も多いことから、美術館での展示や興行 などの活動も世界を舞台に展開している。 最近ではシンガポールでの常設展示を実現し、アメリカにおける大 規模な展示会も成功させている。国際的なアート活動を続ける中で「 東京でも何かしら大きな常設展示をやりたい」という思いが生まれた。 その結果が森ビルデジタルアートミュージアム：エプソンチームラボボ ーダレス。 世界中から人々を呼び込むことができるまったく新しい“東京の磁 場”として大いなるうねりを感じさせる「チームラボボーダレス」。さまよ い、探索し、発見する境界のない１つの世界である。 この世界に類を見ないミュージアムを創り上げたプロジェクトチー ムを代表して、チームラボキッズ代表の松本明耐氏は「空間のサイズの 面でも、提供する体験の面でも、まったく手探りのまま進んでいく感じで した。 １万㎡という巨大な場所に作品を創る経験は今までありませんでし たし、それぞれの作品をボーダレスに結びつけるという試みもはじめ てでした。これまでは１つ１つ単体で仕上げた作品がそれぞれの空間 にあるという形の展示でしたが、”チームラボ ボーダレス”は新しい作 品も含めて作品同士を境界なくつなげることで、展示場全体で１つの 体験を打ち出すという発想で創られています」と語った。 すでにユニークな日本文化とアートの要素をIRデザインに組み込 みたいという希望を表明している未来のIR事業者達にとって、このコン セプトは魅力的なものとして現れた。同様に、IRはチームラボがそのよ team that created the one-of-a-kind museum. “We didn’t have any experience creating pieces for a massive 10,000 square-meter location and it was also our first time even trying to tie together a variety of individual works into a borderless form. Until this project, an individual piece of art has always been exhibited in its own space, but teamLab Borderless is created based on the concept of presenting all work, even new ones, together without borders, launching a single, comprehensive experience throughout the entire building.” The concept looms as an intriguing one for Japan’s future IR operators who have already stated their desire to incorporate unique Japanese cultural and artistic elements into their IR designs. Likewise, IRs present a potential opportunity for teamLab to further explore such expansive spaces. “It started off with brainstorming at teamLab about what we could do in a 10,000 square-meter space,” Matsumoto continues. “That was around three years ago. After that the details gradually came together a little at a time. The point is that it all started with searching for a 10,000 square-meter space. We just started with the idea that we wanted to exhibit something in a 10,000 square- JAPAN