This Art Installation Changes When You Walk Through It

Stepping Inside a Living Code

When you walk into an art gallery, the paintings on the walls are finished. They will never change. But the international art collective named teamLab does the opposite. Using hundreds of computer processors, motion sensors, and digital projectors, they create massive digital ecosystems that react to the presence of individuals in these spaces.

Each work by teamLab is not pre-recorded. All of the art in their exhibits is created in real time by a computer program. Additionally, the programs are coded to react to the viewers in the exhibit.

Water That Splits Around Your Feet

One of the most well-known installations by this art collective is titled “Universe of Water Particles on a Rock where People Gather.” Currently on display at teamLab Borderless in Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills, this exhibit features a massive digital waterfall cascading down one wall and flooding the floor.

When individuals enter the exhibit and stand in the path of the falling digital water, the program detects the individual. The program calculates the individual’s physical form and changes the path of the digital water to split around the individual’s feet. Additionally, as the individual moves, the digital water alters its path to fill the space previously covered by the walking viewer.

Life, Death, and Pixels

In their 2026 exhibition spaces, such as the interactive installations at Galaxy Harajuku, this art collective explores the life cycles of various plants. Digital flowers emerge from the floors and walls of these exhibit spaces. If the viewers stand still, the program recognizes it and responds by causing more digital flowers to sprout around each viewer’s feet. However, if the individual begins walking quickly or touches a digital flower, the petals of that bloom scatter and die on the exhibit floor. This installation is a visual demonstration of the fragility of ecosystems. The life of the digital flowers mirrors the behavior of the individuals in the exhibit space.

A Museum Without a Map

Some of their concepts explore art that does not remain within the confines of the exhibit. Some digital artworks will emerge from one exhibit, travel throughout the exhibit hall, and interact with another artwork.

This forces individuals to rethink how they interact with physical spaces. Without signs, maps, or barriers to the artwork, teamLab merges computing engineering with the natural world to create art installations that are as responsive to the audience as the breath of a living creature.