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There’s a hot new ticket in town. It’s just been announced that teamLab is opening a new art experience in Kyoto. Called teamLab Biovortex Kyoto, it will be opening in fall 2025. Here’s what we know so far.
Add another half-day to your Kyoto trip – and set your alarm clock to buy tickets, teamLab is expanding to have a stand-alone museum in the city.
It’s not their first appearance in Kyoto. In recent years, they have teamed up with places like Shimogamo Shrine to offer temporary installations of their artworks with light and sculpture, but this one is permanent.
Right now, not many concrete details are known, like the exact address or opening date, but we do know roughly where it will be, and have details of some of the new artworks.
Where Will teamLab Biovortex Kyoto Be?
It’s going to be close to Kyoto Station. Specifically, it’s in the southeast area of the station known as Minami-ku. Unofficially, there is a location marked on Google Maps, although this might be speculation if it is correct, though it’s close to an area called Kita Kawara Park.
What’s Going to Be Inside?
We do have a heads-up about this, as the launch press release has images and descriptions of some of the new exhibits. And, it seems that the theme is pretty interesting.
When I wrote about the teamLab Planets TOKYO expansion, the emphasis was very much on climbing, jumping and making things. It was clear that they wanted people to have very physical interactions with the art.
teamLab Biovortex Kyoto is just as interactive in that the art will change as people enter the areas, but they’re talking a lot about using light and air to create art you perceive to be there – that some of it doesn’t actually exist in the real world, yet everything you’re experiencing tells you otherwise.
It sounds really interesting – and, it almost goes without saying, that it looks amazing!
As normal, teamLab do like to describe things in riddles a little bit, so I’ve condensed and interpreted these the best I can from their descriptions and the videos they’ve released.
Massless Amorphous Sculpture
‘This floating, immense sculpture emerges from a sea of bubbles, transcending the concept of mass’… ‘Even when people fully immerse themselves in this sculpture, its existence remains intact. If broken by people, it naturally repairs itself. However, when the sculpture is destroyed beyond what it can repair, it collapses.’
This looks like you’re entering a cloud that swirls all around you as you enter the room.
teamLab, Massless Amorphous Sculpture, 2020-, Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery * Reference Image
Massless Suns and Dark Suns
‘We do not perceive the world we see. We see the world we perceive.’… ‘A group of countless spheres of light. When you try to touch a sphere or light, the sphere shines brightly and the surrounding spheres respond one after the other.’
teamLab, Massless Suns and Dark Suns, 2022-, Interactive Digital Installation, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery * Reference Image
However, the description then gets interesting – they say these spheres don’t actually exist. Some can’t even be photographed – so, how are you interacting with them? I guess we’ll see.
Morphing Continuum
This looks amazing, but I think you’ll need to experience it to understand what on earth it actually is. It looks like you’re walking into a display of moving bronze bubbles – but this is part of the description.
teamLab, Morphing Continuum, 2025, Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery * Reference Image
‘Sculptural existence is born in space. It forms on the ground as a mass and rises from the ground. Existence is born in the air, transcending the very concept of mass, and continues to exist mid-air, maintained in place. The boundaries of these existences are ambiguous, and the glowing spheres that compose them are continuously changing. Even when people fully immerse themselves in this sculpture, its existence remains intact. If broken by people, it naturally restores itself. Even if people try to move or push this floating
entity, they cannot do so. Physical human actions cannot move the sculpture.’
So, is it real? It is mirrors? Is it something else entirely?
Traces of Life
You’ll create the art in this exhibit using art as trails of light follow you as you move. ‘The artwork space becomes one with the people,’ says teamLab. ‘Without people in the artwork space, nothing exists other than the space, and nothing will ever be depicted – the world of the artwork is created through people’s existence.’
teamLab, Traces of Life, 2025, from the series Trails of Life – Transcending Space in All Directions, 2022-, Interactive Installation, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi © teamLab, courtesy Pace Gallery * Reference Image
There will also be a lot more to the new site than these four artworks, they are just the teasers.
I’ll keep you updated on more details, such as a more definite opening date, the official address, and the date tickets go on sale when they’re announced.