TeamLabs planets: How context changes perspective.

Imagine for a moment that you are not where you currently are, but are instead surrounded by a vast expanse of floating flowers, gently raising and lowering in response to your presence. Or maybe an endless shallow pool of rainbow-coloured koi fish that dart around your feet as you wade through the warm, cloudy water, bursting into kaleidoscopic lights.

Sounds bizarre, right?

These kinds of fantastical dreamscapes are what TeamLabs does best. Bringing the ethereal into reality and providing the world with an experience entirely new.

Lucia and I had heard many times about TeamLabs, it is perhaps one of the most popular tourist attractions in Tokyo. However, it stayed on our To-Do list a lot longer than we thought it would. Most probably due to it’s location in a very car-favouring area of Tokyo, near Daiba.

Now that we have been there, we both agreed that TeamLabs’ reputation is not overstated, and if you are in Tokyo for more than a day or so, it is a wonderful experience well worth the detour.

TeamLabs has few installations around the globe, each with their own theme. There’s “Animals”, focusing on the blending of natural life and technology. “Borderless”, a continuous journey that blurs the lines between artistic projects. And “Planets”, here in Tokyo, which aims to create distinct “worlds” to be transported away to.

Human brains are incredibly efficient. And one of the ways we increase our efficiency over time is by recognizing patterns & repeating features, and making our responses to then more automatic. These are our habits, and a large proportion of our day to day actions happen because of them.

These efficiencies aren’t limited to your daily routine either, they can be seen everywhere in life. When Lucia and I first set foot in Tokyo, we couldn’t stop looking at all of the signs and new buildings and structures around us. It was a completely new context, and my brain considered everything to be important.
Fast forward to today, and we’ve naturally gotten much better at focusing on where we’re going, despite Tokyo constantly vying for our attention.

TeamLabs provides an experience similar to this. They provide a context change so drastic that you can’t help but be filled with awe and wonder.
For starters, they ask each visitor to take off their shoes and socks; it is an entirely barefoot experience. Immediately we felt different. You can feel the carpet under your feet, and you start to wonder about what could possibly be coming next.

Upon entering the starting area you are met with long, dimly lit passages, and it doesn’t take long for you to lose your sense of direction. You have to trust the journey that you are being taken on. The first obstacle is introduced through the sounds of running water in the distance. Upon turning a corner you discover an gentle waterfall slope that you must climb, walking against the flow.

It was at that point that I realised this wasn’t just a regular art viewing experience.

After drying your feet with their provided towels, you can move on to the first major room, which is still one of my favourites.

You are presented with a room so dark you can barely see the walls and floor, but you spot the exit on the other side. With your goal in mind, you figure it should be simple to walk through the dark room, so you take one step.

And sink waist deep into a soft, black void!

The room was filled entirely with giant beanbags that made it impossible to get across without scrambling, rolling and jumping around. It left us laughing and pushing each other around like children, it was so much fun!

After going through the beanbags course, we were presented with the context for the art piece. The artist states: “The human-designed world is full of cold, hard surfaces and sharp edges. It can be tiring to exist in such a world.”

The change of context from hard, sharp reality, to the soft, comfy void leaves you feeling giddy and wide-eyed about what’s coming next. And TeamLabs continues to whisk you away with all of the rest of the displays.

Overall, a strong context change can be enough to shake up your perspective of the world around you, and It’s important to do this every so often to keep inspired and curious. Whilst routine does have its uses, too much can make you stagnate. So play with sensations, contexts and your own perspective, because you might find that the next time you take a moment to catch a nice view, or feel the wind on your face. you’ll notice something you’d have otherwise missed.