TeamLab is an “art collective” of “ultra-technologists” consisting of engineers, programmers, CG animators, graphic designers, editors and more, specializing in combing scientific advancements with artistic endeavors to create interactive art installations. They use light as a medium to paint in an unrestricted unbounded canvas existing between the physical and virtual world.
They seek to merge Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in real life, creating interactive artwork with very strong immersiveness.
In Nature, the participants personalize and scan their drawings, and their drawings appear within the walls of the installation. The existing displays interact with the added design, creating different responses in the flora and the fauna in the virtual environment.
Based on participant’s input, the installation, which spans the entire room, changes and evolves to the input, becoming like a living, breathing atmosphere. The participants are surrounded by this mix of AR and VR, thus creating a string suspension of disbelief, creating immersiveness with the artwork.
I believe a lot of inspiration has been derived from past immersive interactive artworks like “Osmose” by Char Davies, where a participating immersant’s input, like body tilt and breathing movements affect the VR display.
The concept of using participant’s input to create a interactive, unregulated output allows more room for exploration and interactivity which will transform the installation in unpredictable ways.
It is always interesting to debate the difference between are and commercial work. However, history has proven that thee two are early indistinguishable. In the arts and crafts movement, the Japanese Mingei folk art movement focused on creating normal, functional pieces of art for everyday use, eschewing from their ideals of creating luxurious, “high art” objects. Even though this is essentially commercial work, it is still classified as a work of art, for the craftsmanship, stylistic explorations, and aesthetic values elevate it into a form of art. Furthermore, this movement left a mark on the artistic trends of society, creating a impact in history. I believe, with significant impact, commercial work can also be considered “art”, for art is what tracks human growth and progress over the generations
Furthermore, the pressures of modern capitalist society force artists to have to resort to producing some version of commercialised works as a way to sell. Even though this notion is commonly recognised as “selling out” and abandoning ones pure artistic ideals for monetary well-being, it is also understood to be a necessary choice made.
Thus i dont think the distinction between “art” and “commercialised work” is important today.