ABU DHABI (WAM)
Saadiyat Cultural District is set to welcome teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, one of four cultural institutions currently nearing completion in the District.
teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, developed in collaboration with the Tokyo-based art collective teamLab, will join Louvre Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, and Berklee Abu Dhabi, and eventually Zayed National Museum, Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, to form one of the world’s greatest concentrations of cultural institutions.
The combined museums’ narratives will create an unparalleled global cultural platform—a place where people can come together, openly exchange opinions, and build a shared understanding.
teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi seamlessly integrates into this cultural narrative, though visitors will find it represents a different experience from the District’s surrounding museums and institutions, presenting extraordinary art installations that will change with every visit.
“Since Saadiyat Cultural District is a place where people come to learn from the past, understand the present, and look towards the future, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi represents a compelling vision of futuristic art technology,” said Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi).
He added, “Visitors will embark on an exploration that reflects, a creative journey that sparks curiosity and imagination in all who visit.”
DCT Abu Dhabi has partnered with Miral, the leading creator of immersive destinations and experiences in Abu Dhabi, to conceptualise and develop both teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi and its neighbouring museum, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi. Both offer enriching and enthralling encounters with the natural world and our place within it, though from entirely different standpoints and narratives.
In the case of teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, this is achieved through a 17,000-square-metre multi-sensory, digital experience that sits at the intersection of art, science, and technology. The journey begins with the building’s cloud-shaped architecture, which follows an art-first approach—meaning the scale of the installations has dictated the building’s proportions, allowing them to interact seamlessly with each other.
Takashi Kudo, a founding member of the Tokyo-based teamLab collective, explained that teamLab Abu Dhabi has been designed “from the inside out and the outside in, creating a structure that wraps around the experience as opposed to forcibly compressing it inside.”
The inspiration for the museum’s design and artworks was drawn from Tokyo’s love of pioneering technology and Abu Dhabi’s striking urban landscape and natural environment, referencing innovation, nature, and tradition.
teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi transcends the boundaries of physical art, allowing the relationship between the viewer and the artwork to go beyond the confines of a fixed construct.