Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders, Ephemeral Life Born from People

teamLab, 2018, Interactive Digital Installation, Endless

Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders, Ephemeral Life Born from People

teamLab, 2018, Interactive Digital Installation, Endless

The butterflies in Flutter of Butterflies are born from people and dance in the space. But if people touch them, the butterflies die.

If there are no people in the Butterfly House in teamLab Borderless, it is a dark space with nothing existing in it. When people enter the space and stand still, butterfly chrysalises appear on their body, and  butterflies emerge and fly from their feet. Butterflies are born and fly from people’s feet and from the touch of their hands on the walls.

The butterflies transcend the boundary of the display and leave the space, transcending the boundaries of artworks, enter and fly around in other works. By seamlessly flying into other works they break the concept of the artwork frame, and make the boundaries ambiguous. The butterflies are affected by the conditions in other artworks.

Only butterflies born in the Butterfly House exist in the Borderless World. If people touch and kill too many butterflies, then the work will cease to exist.

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.