teamLab's Takashi Kudo Discusses Collective Creation and Upcoming Kyoto Museum

Takashi Kudo of the international collective teamLab spoke with ArtAsiaPacific ahead of the October opening of teamLab Biovortex Kyoto, a permanent museum. The group, comprising technologists and artists, creates immersive digital installations that explore perception and interconnectedness, inviting visitors to co-create through interaction. Recent projects include teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi, which launched in April at Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Cultural District, and teamLab: A Forest Where Gods Live, running until November at Takeo Hot Springs in Kyushu, Japan. Kudo explained that teamLab's creative process involves multidisciplinary collaboration without hierarchy, where concepts and technical feasibility evolve together. The collective aims to transform human values by fostering new relationships between people and nature through digital art, which frees expression from physical constraints. Kudo noted that exhibitions like teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets in Tokyo are best viewed as single artworks rather than individual pieces. He highlighted the positive role of audience presence in shaping experiences, contrasting with traditional exhibitions where other viewers can be a hindrance. Reflecting on Kyoto's historical continuity, Kudo expressed hope that Biovortex will integrate into the city's cultural flow, with its reception to be judged by future perspectives.