ArtScience Museum and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands unveil teamLab installations created with digital technology to the delight of the public.
FACTFILE
Project Name: Future World: Where Art Meets Science at ArtScience Museum and Digital Light Canvas by teamLab at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Project Location: Singapore
Project Segment: Museum and Retail
Project Highlight: Interactive space
Key AV Brand: Epson projectors
Since its formation, teamLab has established a reputation for artworks that use digital technology to create experiences that wow audiences globally. Formed in 2001, teamLab is an international art collective that includes artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects.
Their project at Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands once again brings art and technology to the forefront for visitors to immerse, interact and, as manifested by teamLab, ‘transcend boundaries in our perceptions of the world, of the relationship between the self and the world’.
The ‘Future World’ galleries at ArtScience Museum allow visitors to immerse themselves in a world of art and science through a collection of interactive digital installations. teamLab, in collaboration with ArtScience Museum, unveiled new installations at ‘Future World’ titled ‘Exploring New Frontiers’ that opened on the 26th of November 2022 to the public.
The following artworks were newly installed:
– Autonomous Abstraction, Continuous Phenomena from the Universe to the Self. This new installation explores the phenomenon of self-organisation or spontaneous order. When people touch the projected images, the rhythm of the blinking hues change and are randomised, but the dots close to each other once again cause a spontaneous order phenomenon and begin to blink in unison.
– Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds. This is an interactive artwork created from horizontal bars of varying colours, projection, light and sound. When people climb into the artwork, the bars shine brightly and produce a sound specific to the colour. The more people climb onto bars of different colours, the more sounds will be played at the same time.
– Sketch Flight. In Sketch Flight, visitors can colour an aeroplane, a butterfly or hawk on the paper provided and see the picture drawn appear flying through an imaginary world on the giant screen in front of them. Visitors can use a tablet device to control the flight of their aeroplane, butterfly, or hawk, and see the world from different perspective on the screen.
As teamLab has continued to transform the artworks in ‘Future World’ since its opening 2016, they were well versed in the space. teamLab created the entire experience considering the space size and creating seamless connectivity within the different experiences.
Takashi Kudo from teamLab highlights, “teamLab always research and try to create something – a new relationship between humans and the world and ‘Future World’ is based on that concept. We want to bring the visitor inside our imagination with physical bodies. So we need to make a very immersive space.”
For the immersive aspect to happen, teamLab depends on technology. Although it’s a tool like paint, it does greatly affect the creation, just like how the painting en plein air developed because it became possible to bring paints outdoors. teamLab has worked with Epson on previous projects and once again relied on Epson projector technology for this project.
The ‘Exploring New Frontiers’ galleries feature more than 30 projector units comprising Epson EB-PU1006W, EB-PU2010B and EB-PU1008B, as well as a variety of different lenses.
All the projectors work to realise the artwork space that teamLab wants to create. For instance, key to the experience is the importance of teamLab’s software working seamlessly with the projectors to ensure the interaction is almost instant for the visitors. This was achieved with aplomb as visitors are treated to vibrant and colourful images that instantly react to the action of the visitors.
Another space with Epson projectors is Digital Light Canvas located within The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. This space was also created by teamLab.
“The concept of Digital Light Canvas is more like a co-creation. People draw on the paper provided of animals, and it becomes objects in our digital space, which then become products like T-shirts, badges and tote bags. We create it in Sketch Factory, so we needed good printers to make it, and we really appreciate all the support Epson provided us,” said Takashi.
The Digital Light Canvas also features Epson EB-800F Full HD projectors. The projectors create the illusion of the different animals ‘making their way’ to the printer space to become merchandise.
Takashi highlights that their art, vision and creativity can only be realised with technology partners like Epson.
Alex Chua, team lead, Epson Sales Division, VI Business, comments, “Epson is honoured to serve as the Official Technology Partner of Future World at ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, and the collaboration partner of teamLab. Since 2018, Epson and teamLab have been working together on regional projects.
ArtScience Museum’s galleries and the Digital Light Canvas space continue to be successful due to teamLab’s innovative, technologically driven projects. Alongside the immersive and interactive art experience created by teamLab, Epson, as a leader in 3LCD technology, produces vivid colour reproduction to help bring the spaces to life. Some of the exhibits could only have been realised with the unique zero offset capabilities of the lenses. Also, the projectors’ compact and versatile nature work well in challenging spaces to create a seamless experience.”
Alex continues, “Epson understands the need for, and the importance of, digital content in immersive setups. Thus, Epson emphasises sharp, precise, and high-quality projectors that facilitate immersive and interactive projection. Epson is proud to have met all stringent requirements of teamLab and overcome the challenges of this project.”
Check out the video showcasing the immersive spaces HERE.
