Dalal Awienat and Diana Farah

ABU DHABI: teamLab Phenomena opened its doors in Saadiyat Cultural District on Thursday, promising visitors a unique immersive experience.

The Japanese multi-sensory art experience features huge transformative exhibits that aim to engage the senses of sight, sound and touch while encouraging guests to interact with the world around them.

Divided into dry and wet zones, teamLab Phenomena is set to be “somewhere where you can feel that the world is continuous, and to feel that continuity itself,” according to founder Toshiyuki Inoko.

While it first opened in Jeddah in June last year, Inoko said that although the two experiences overlapped visually, the Abu Dhabi experience would be unique.

“Phenomena depicts ambiguous boundaries, or this idea that even if people enter an artwork and break it apart, it repairs itself. Or also transcending the notion of mass and floating material,” he said.

Speaking to Arab News Japan, teamLab’s global director, Takashi Kudo, said the Abu Dhabi experience introduced a brand-new concept — “environmental phenomena.”

This is rooted in triggering perception through natural yet unexplained phenomena, he explained.

“In one of the installations, water flows around visitors’ feet, responding in real-time to their movements, illustrating how the environment and the individual are in constant dialogue,” Kudo said.

“We’re not showing things that can be described in words. Instead, we’re sharing something we feel is beautiful and that we hope people will experience emotionally.

“When you’re inside a teamLab space, you’re not just seeing something, you’re part of it. Your presence changes the art, and someone else’s presence changes your experience. It’s not about observing from the outside. It’s about feeling with your body and connecting with others in that shared space.”

Giving the examples of the fleeting beauty of cherry blossoms or the shifting colors of a desert sunrise, he added: “Life is full of small phenomena. We don’t know if people will like it or not. But we want to awaken curiosity because curiosity makes life beautiful.”

In the heart of Saadiyat Cultural District, teamLab is just one of the pieces that make up the UAE’s growing arts and culture hub.

The chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, Mohamed Al-Mubarak, described the district as a “puzzle or a beautiful painting.”

“Whatever way you look at it, it consists of these institutions, these cultural institutions, that all sort of continuously redefine themselves … It’s all sort of based on you as an individual,” he said.

Comprising seven museums and cultural institutes including the Louvre, Zayed National Museum and the Natural History Museum, Al-Mubarak said the architecture of the buildings was intentional and represented elements of the UAE.

“When you look at the architecture of the buildings of these museums, they are themed. They are a celebration of our culture and heritage. All of our buildings in the district have subtle metaphors to our heritage,” he said.

Visitors can see 12 artworks at the Abu Dhabi space, including the “Levitation Void” and “Massless Suns and Dark Suns.”.

Each exhibit relies on real-time depictions and complex algorithms to ensure no two experiences are the same.