Japanese art collective teamLab has revealed the design for its teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi gallery, which once built will become a permanent venue for its innovative digital art on Saadiyat Island in the UAE capital.
Conceived as a “home for infinite curiosity”, the building will host immersive artworks designed by the Japanese collective and inspired by “environmental phenomena.”
As the latest cultural venue to be built on Saadiyat Island, it will be located alongside the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi by Mecanoo and near Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi, Foster+Partners’ Zayed National Museum and a trio of religious buildings designed by David Adjaye.
White sculptural block
teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi is set to cover 17,000 square metres of the waterfront in a white sculptural block conceptualised by TeamLab and realised by Abu Dhabi-based studio MZ Architects, which is behind Abu Dhabi’s expansive Al Qana waterfront development.
The main entrance will be located through an arched opening on the ground floor, while a ceremonial staircase will rise up the building to meet a raised plaza on its roof.
With the exception of several entrances and a small first-floor terrace, the large building is a “closed box” without windows. The internal spaces will contain a series of galleries of different sizes for TeamLab’s digital art.
teamLab around the world
The arts centre on Saadiyat Island is not the interdisciplinary group’s first foray into the region.
Formed in 2001, the digital artists have also been regulars at Art Dubai, appearing at the art fair most latterly in 2019.
In 2021, the “ultra-technologists” announced they would launch a new digital art museum in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, called teamLab Borderless Jeddah by 2023.
Founded by Toshiyuki Inoko, the Tokyo-based technology creatives known for producing crowd-pleasing immersive experiences awash with virtual waterfalls and flowers, have entered into a 10-year agreement with the Saudi Ministry of Culture to develop works for the planned museum.
It follows similar projects in their home country and around the world, now in Abu Dhabi.
After opening in 2018, the immersive teamLab museum in Tokyo attracted more visitors than the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and twice the combined number of visitors to the three Dalí museums in Spain.
Construction of the cultural offering is expected to be completed in 2024 when we’ll discover how popular it is with UAE residents.
