Singapore– Ikkan Art Gallery is pleased to present its fourth solo exhibition of the Japanese collective, teamLab. The spectacular work of the group, whose large-scale interactive digital installations were most recently unveiled at the inaugural National Gallery of Victoria’s Triennial in Melbourne, Australia, and the Marina Bay Sands Singapore, sees an inimitable blend of vibrancy and pensiveness, with the exhibition at the gallery shining a spotlight on their monitor-based works around the complexities of nature and temporality.
Continuous Life and Death at the Now of Eternity is a 9-channel vertical tableau that illustrates the passing of time with the budding and blossoming of flowers till their withering ends, with different flowers blooming over the course of a year. The work is synchronised with the actual sunrise and sunset timings of where it is located at, the scene growing bright as the sun rises before darkness sets in over the sunset. Rendered in real time by a computer program, the image on view never repeats itself whilst continuing into eternity.
Cold Life, a single-channel digital work rendered in 4K resolution, depicts a calligraphic series of brush strokes modeled in virtual 3D space that forms the character “生”(Japanese/Mandarin for ‘life’) which then metamorphoses into a tree. As time passes, various life forms begin emanating and growing from within the tree. As expressed via the intricacies of this work, teamLab exemplifies 3D rendering in its stripped-down state while maintaining a highly complex and elaborate construction.
Impermanent Life depicts the cycle of life and death of cherry blossoms. A complex choreography ensues, the languid movement of a central figure juxtaposed with a seemingly ever-changing backdrop of dots metronomically enlarging and shrinking, as petals disperse across the tableau. Throughout its cycle, the backdrop alternates between greyish-ochre and bluish-white periodically, at times in stark contrast to the central moving figure, at other times blending in momentary unison.
The exhibition also features Gold Waves, a 4-metre long vista of waves that unfolds unendingly, as well as The Land of Peace and Bliss, a 6-channel panoramic view over a new capital city being built, with various characters making appearances and their stories unfolding concurrently in this picture scroll. Also on view at the gallery is teamLab’s Message Pillar, a 4-metre tall virtual tree that allows you to send your well wishes and viewother people’s messages via the eponymous smartphone app.
