Looking for an experience that will blow your mind? Take a step inside TeamLab Borderless Tokyo and you’ll think you’ve stepped through the “Looking Glass” into a crazy world of sight and sound. Teamlab Borderless and Teamlab Planets are billed as digital art museums in Tokyo, and that description fits.
We’ve not seen anything quite like it elsewhere. Imagine walking into a very darkened space that you know is very large, then being surrounded by moving images that changes continually as you walk through the space. Some of the images are of plants, animals, stars, ocean waves or people. In some cases, when you touch them or stand in front of them, the images move or transform into another shape or color. All this is done via sophisticated projection equipment and 3D computers. Have no idea how it works, but it will amaze you. You can get a glimpse of our time at Teamlab Borderless by clicking here. We’ll be doing a comparison later on Teamlab Planets.
In Teamlab Borderless, you are free to wander the many galleries from pretty much any direction. That is, there is no set right or wrong pathway. Except for a couple of galleries where the guides must regulate traffic flow, you’re free to hang out as long as you want in any space and come and go freely. In some spaces, you’re looking at display screens that wrap around you. In other galleries, you walk among physical objects such as stainless steel balls rolling up and down on rails or walking through dangling LED’s strung from the 30′ ceiling to the floor as the lights constantly change in synchronization to the music. While in yet another, you enter a room in which the floor, ceiling and walls are all mirrored with hundreds of illuminated glass globes hanging from the ceiling that are multiplied to infinity due to the mirrored surfaces.
In Teamlab Planets you follow a preset route through the galleries and do so in your bare feet. Why? Because you will walk through various places in water. In a few places, the water is streaming down a sloping pathway while in others you’re walking through water that is a foot or more deep. In one gallery, there is a mist hovering over the water and projected onto the water are Japanese Carp fish swimming around you. Again, how its done is a mystery because the images of the fish actually avoid running into your shins. The climax of TeamLab Planets is the garden room, which like Borderless is mirrored from floor to ceiling and walls. However, rather than globes of light, there are hundreds of orchids and other flowering plants dangling from the ceiling. When reflected in the mirrors you find yourself surrounded by living color.
Both exhibits are amazing and quite different, therefore, its worth it to try both, however if you can only choose one, then I recommend Teamlab Borderless. Just a personal preference. The only downside (other than the ticket price which is based on day of the week and of course tied to the price of Japanese Yen), is the crowds. These are two immensely popular sites in Tokyo, so I highly recommend booking well in advance and purchase a time slot as early in the day as possible. Once you’re in, you can stay as long as you like, but by mid afternoon, they become packed with people.
So while in Tokyo, Teamlab Borderless and Teamlab Planets is a must see. Watch our most recent Tokyo video to see more of Teamlab Borderless. Also, keep in mind that the still images in this post do not come close to reproducing the actual experience. This is one of those “You must see it to believe it.”, kind of things.
