Viral Art Collective TeamLab Have Transformed A Tokyo Forest With Thousands Of Fluorescent Sculptures

Art exists everywhere, not just in museums. Grace Banks has delved into the best places in the world to experience art off the beaten track in the book Art Escapes (Gestalten), highlighting some of the best works by artists including Niki de Saint Phalle, Sol LeWitt and Mark Rothko, in forests, streets and even churches. As we begin to plan our summer vacations, we’re highlighting some of the locations in Art Escapes that deserve a place on your summer itinerary.

It’s midnight in the Acorn Forest in the north of Tokyo and the trees are shining brightly. Across this dense forest, hundreds of multicoloured lights illuminate the leaves and branches ― slowly glowing from warm to light, a corresponding sound is omitted each time a light goes on. This is Acorn Forest, a dreamscape woodland world created by Teamlab, the digital art cooperative based in Tokyo.

ADVERTISEMENT

Transforming everyday environments into digital art is nothing new for TeamLab, who for the last ten years have done everything from turn cupboards into digital fields of flowers, and nightclubs into immersive art spaces. TeamLab was founded in 2001 by former engineer Toshiyuki Inoko to create a digital art laboratory, with the aim to experience the world through art.

ADVERTISEMENT

The town of Sakura Town Shin Tokorozawa, home to Acorn Forest, is a marvel in itself. Located in the north of Tokyo, just an hour by train from the centre of the city, this new art destination is a collaboration between the Japanese publishing house Kadokawa and Tokorozawa city, with the aim to transform Japan’s Anime and Manga legacy into art experiences.

For more information, visit teamLab.