The fabulous TeamLab Planets site gets a pink makeover for cherry blossom season! Between March 1 and April 31, instead of wading among the fish and flowers like this…
…you can submerge your ankles in a sea of koi and petals like this!
Like the usual immersive digital pond, the music and animation start with ordinary orange and white fish, which transform to otherworldly colors, and finally leave glowing trails in their wake, criss-crossing the pond in fantastical shapes. Here’s a short collection of video clips from each phase so you can see for yourself:
But that’s not the only artwork that gets the hanami treatment! The “Universe of Falling Flowers” is even better. Not that you’d know it from a still photo, UGH, but the experience they crafted for the mirrored dome room is even better than the pond.
This video is a little better at conveying the wonder of lying suspended in space, with cherry blossoms wheeling all around instead of stars, but please go see it for yourself. It’s magic!
The other eminently sharable artworks don’t get any special treatment for The Season, but they’re still fabulously engaging.
My favorite: the Crystal Universe, with its 3-D pulses of color and shapes moving through tens of thousands of LED strings…
Then there’s the selfie-friendly hanging orchid room with its mirrored floor (which gives the illusion of being surrounded in a sphere of flowers)…
The giant color-changing bouncy ball room…
And, of course, the moss & schmoos…
…which aren’t very exciting during the day, but come alive at night. They change color when you boop them!
Dates: March 1 – April 30, 2023
Hours:
Monday – Friday 10:00 – 20:00
Saturday, Sunday, Holidays 9:00 – 21:00
Plus special days when the hours are extended, which you can see here
Where:
Toyosu 6-1-16, Koto-ku, Tokyo
You must buy tickets in advance for a specific date and time, but that is easy to do online (in any language) on their website here.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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