Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Entertainment
Asharq Al-Awsat

Japan Forest Lights Up in Digital Art Show

The show in the mountains of Kyushu in southern Japan is the latest offering from art collective teamLab Photo: AFP / Yuki IWAMURA

A cascading waterfall made entirely of light pours onto a rock while azalea trees are illuminated in a glowing ripple at a digital art show in a Japanese forest.

Light installations featuring blooming flowers, giant koi carp and traditional calligraphy come to life after dark, creating an otherworldly ambiance at the exhibition that fuses nature and tech.

The show in the mountains of Kyushu in southern Japan is the latest offering from art collective teamLab.

#photo1

The group are internationally renowned for their mesmerizing displays combining projections, sound and carefully designed spaces.

"Sometimes, people think digital art and nature are completely against each other," Takashi Kudo, a member of teamLab, told AFP at a media preview.

#photo2

"But at the same time, we think digital and nature are quite easy to merge, because our 'paint' is light.

"So we don't destroy the nature itself, we don't paint on original trees or rocks... in the daytime it's going to disappear."

#photo3

The exhibition, which opens on Friday and runs until November 7, is in a park whose boundaries blend into an ancient forest in the Saga region near Nagasaki.

Sensors hidden in a thicket of azaleas detect when people walk past -- sending a fleeting, firefly-like glow through the trees around them.

#photo4

On the surface of a pond, abstract lines of violet, yellow and green light combine as if reflecting a canopy of neon trees above.

And in an abandoned bath house, huge "megaliths" jut out of the ground, brightly illuminated to contrast with the darkness inside and out.

Kudo says he hopes the exhibition, titled "teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live", will help people appreciate the beauty of the natural environment.

#photo5

"The leaves -- it seems that they are only green, but for us, it's a screen."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.