Teamlab opens an immersive museum in Abu Dhabi

On the seafront of Saadiyat Cultural District in Abu Dhabi, a monumental white building with organic forms rises. It houses the Phenomena teamlab which opens its doors this April 18. “Teamlab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will offer an immersive journey that will arouse curiosity and imagination. At the intersection of art, technology and nature, it will create a universe of limitless wonders ”proudly announced last February the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi.

Designed by MZ Architects in collaboration with the Teamlab collective, this 17,000 m² building was started in 2021. It welcomes intangible and scalable facilities, designed to interact with visitors. One of them, inspired by the vortex, sees lines forming according to the flow of water, while the contact of the hands of the spectators on the walls reveals new figures.

The cost of the project was not specified, but the funder, the Miral group, indicated in a 2022 report that all the construction projects that he supervised in Abu Dhabi amounted to more than $ 3.4 billion (around 3.2 billion euros).

Teamlab Phenomena in Abu Dhabi thus constitutes the 24ᵉ permanent immersive installation of the Tokyoist collective. Founded in 2001, the latter brings together artists, programmers, engineers, 3D animators, mathematicians and architects. Together, they explore the relationship between the subject and its environment, seeking to transcend the boundaries between the means of perception. Among their flagship achievements include Mori Building Digital Art Museum: Teamlab Borderless, open in Tokyo in 2018, a museum without imposed routes where works interact with each other. Their works are also visible in institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles or the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

With this new establishment in Abu Dhabi, Teamlab joins an expansion ecosystem. In addition to the Louvre Abou Dhabi, inaugurated in 2017, several major institutions must open this year, such as the Museum of Natural History, the Zayed National Museum – devoted to the history of the United Arab Emirates – and the Guggenheim Abou Dhabi, designed by Frank Gehry. These projects aim to make Saadiyat a leading cultural center and to encourage tourists to extend their stay.