teamLab Biovortex Kyoto: Redefining Existence Through Art and Perception
teamLab Biovortex Kyoto Opens
teamLab Biovortex Kyoto opens on October 7, 2025, marking the start of a new cultural hub in southeastern Kyoto. In a city where traditions and culture continue to evolve, teamLab adds a new chapter to this cultural history with their progressive art and science technology.
This permanent museum transforms complex ideas of perception and existence into immersive installations. It invites visitors to experience them not just with the mind, but with the body, just as we interact with the world in everyday life.
Existence Shaped by Environment
One of the museum’s pioneering exhibitions in Japan explores the idea that existence is not always a fixed, independent material. Some phenomena only come into being when the environment sustains them, and disappear once the conditions change.
Take tornadoes, for example. At their core, they are made of air, intrinsically invisible. But under the right conditions, this air takes on a visible, swirling shape we recognize as a tornado. Its boundaries are fluid, hard to define. Remove it from that environment, and the tornado vanishes, leaving only air behind.
In works such as Massless Amorphous Sculpture and Morphing Continuum, teamLab doesn’t create solid objects. Instead, they design environments where shifting conditions give rise to forms that exist only in that exact moment and space.
When Vision Creates Reality
Just as they question the perception of mass, they also challenge how we define existence itself. In Massless Suns and Dark Suns, orbs of light appear vividly before our eyes. Yet, when touched, there is nothing there.
These lights exist only within human perception, raising the question: can something that exists solely in our perception still be considered real?
Seeing Rain Differently
The artworks also reframe how we perceive natural phenomena. In Ephemeral Crystallized Drop, drops of water seem to float in a straight line. Yet, when you touch it, you discover it is actually a continuous stream.
This actually plays with our mind in the sense that although we know rain is composed of countless droplets, our perception transforms it under higher energy, appearing instead as lines cascading from the sky. Except here, it’s the other way around.
Over 50 Works to Rethink the World
With more than 50 works that invite us to rethink perception, teamLab Biovortex Kyoto offers not just an exhibition, but a new way of seeing the world.
This permanent museum is poised to become a hub of creativity, where art, science, and human experience meet, and where new ways of perceiving reality are born.
What’s Next?
As Kyoto moves forward with its urban revitalization efforts, such as the planned redevelopment of Kyoto Tower, the city continues to evolve as a cultural hub. Just as teamLab Biovortex Kyoto redefines how we experience art and perception, it is exciting to imagine where this journey of renewal and creativity will take us next.