Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders in the Crystal World

teamLab, 2018, Installation of Light Sculpture, LED, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders in the Crystal World

teamLab, 2018, Installation of Light Sculpture, LED, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi

A flutter of butterflies is created from an accumulation of light points.

This work starts when the Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders enters the Crystal World space inside teamLab Borderless. The work ends when the butterflies leave the space and disappear.

The group of butterflies that come into this space are those from the Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders (a group of butterflies born from other artworks, such as the butterflies born from people’s bodies in the Butterfly House). These butterflies release art from the concept of  the frame, removing boundaries from the artwork space, as they seamlessly fly through other artworks.

Pointillism uses an accumulation of distinct dots of color to create a picture. Here, light points are used to create three-dimensional objects. The butterflies that are drawn by light points fly freely around the space. A visual illusion due to continuous dynamic behavior causes the bodies of people in the space to be immersed in the flock of butterflies, dissolving the boundary between the body and the artwork world. As the shared world of the artwork changes due to your and others’ existences , people dissolve into the work and perhaps feel a sense of unity with others.

Neither prerecorded nor on loop, the work is rendered in real time by a computer program. The interaction between the viewer and the installation causes continuous change in the artwork; previous visual states can never be replicated, and will never reoccur. This moment can never be seen again.