This is the last TeamLab post (for a little while, at least). I’ve been saving this one for last, since I think it’s my favorite (or, at the very least, the most psychedelic), so I’m hoping you enjoy it. Like the others, it combines traditional Japanese art styles with various modern elements, in this case they are using video which progresses the art piece as an actual story.

Check out this video (preferably in full screen) to see it in action.

In 2009, the World Wildlife Fund (Not to be confused with the World Wrestling Federation, which is equally as smashy) announced their prediction that sea levels will rise 120cm by the end of the century. 100 Years Sea visualizes this using traditional Japanese art styles. Besides the somewhat political nature of the film, here is the artistic concept behind it, as reported by TeamLab.

“Historically Japanese artist painted and expressed waves using a combination of lines. These assembled lines give the impression of the life and energy of the sea as one living creature. Looking at the sea we feel awe, and it is probably due to this awe that Japanese artists chose to express the sea as a living entity. Japanese ancestors possibly saw the world exactly as it is depicted in a classic Japanese print. Based on this idea, we considered recombining the subjective view of that of our ancestors with the fixed objective view of the modern world. We constructed virtual waves in a 3D environment that regardless of the cut, have the appearance of the combined line style of Japanese painting. As a result we think it might be possible to gain an impression of what the world looked like to our Japanese ancestors. This movie attempts to recreate the recognition of space of our Japanese ancestors’ in 3 dimensions. In doing so, we may be able to discover a new mode of expression in which viewers feel there is no border between the world of the movie and the world in which they live. As a result viewers may be able to feel the movie more physically.” (read more)

The video version above is actually the shorter, faster version (apparently the original actually takes 100 years to complete?). It’s displayed on a gigantic 20 meters of screen, so if you get motion sick easily then maybe this isn’t the best art installation for you.

Anyways, I’ll be watching TeamLab for any cool updates, so enjoy the TeamLab hiatus, for now. So what do you think. Is sea rise going to happen and swallow up Japan? Hopefully not, but at least my favorite monkey friends are safe in the mountains.