teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will officially open its doors to the public in Saadiyat Cultural District Abu Dhabi on 18 April 2025, announced by the Department of Culture and Tourism—Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), Miral, the leading creator of immersive destinations and experiences in Abu Dhabi, and Tokyo – based art collective, teamLab.
The 17,000 sqm multi-sensory art experience is operated by Miral Experiences, a subsidiary of Miral, and will include massive transformative exhibits that take guests on a sensory-rich journey, offering a dynamic and ever-evolving guest experience. The exhibits engage sight, sound, and touch, encouraging guests to expand the way they feel, connect and interact with the world around them.
HE Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “Saadiyat Cultural District is a testament to Abu Dhabi’s commitment to preserving heritage while embracing a forward-looking vision. The District will convey a message of cultural diversity that will become more powerful over time, creating global connections, inspiring cultural exchange, and fostering new ways of thinking to support the region, the global South and the world. We believe in the diversity of artistic expression and teamLab is the perfect partner to provide immersive art experiences that push the boundaries of art and technology. Together, we are redefining what is possible—expanding our horizons and forging deeper connections in ways never seen before.”
HE added: “Once opened, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will offer an immersive journey that sparks infinite curiosity and imagination in all who visit. At the intersection of art, technology, and nature, it will create a world of limitless wonder and creativity. Through these multi-sensory explorations, we are inspiring new generations of innovators, thinkers, and creators from Abu Dhabi and beyond.”
A home for infinite curiosity
teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi will feature a constantly transforming art experience unique to Abu Dhabi, conceived by the Tokyo-based art collective teamLab. The installations are part of teamLab’s concept of ‘Environmental Phenomena’, created through an extensive experimentation process. Housed in a purpose-built structure, conceptualised and designed by teamLab Architects and realised by teamLab Architects and Abu Dhabi-based MZ Architects, teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi’s architecture will play an important role in providing the exhibits with an environment to evolve freely and organically.
Toshiyuki Inoko, Founder of teamLab, said: “The artworks in teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi do not exist independently, but are created by the environment which produces the various phenomena that cause the artworks to exist. Up until now, things that humans have created have existed through matter, just like a rock, and have a stable structure in and of themselves. Unlike such things, the existence of the artworks in teamLab Phenomena are created by the environment. The environment produces the phenomena, and the environment maintains the existence of the structure. Let us call that existence environmental phenomena.”
“Existence will be freed from matter that has previously been responsible for its existence. Elements like air, water, and light that permeate our daily lives are transformed by their environment into unique phenomena that will become the existence. The boundaries of that existence are ambiguous and continuous. Even if people break the artwork apart, the work will remain in existence as long as its environment is maintained. Conversely, if the environment is not maintained, the work will disappear. Perhaps, people’s consciousness will spread from existence itself to the environment. A rock will continue to exist even if it is placed in a sealed box isolated from the outside world, but life cannot maintain its existence if it is placed in such a closed box. Life is also an existence that is maintained by the environment. Life may be a miraculous phenomenon that emerges from a flow in an open and continuous world.”
Experience massive transformative exhibits
Guests will be immersed within a realm of creativity and innovation through a series of massive transformative exhibits.
In Massless Suns and Dark Suns, spheres of light and darkness converge to challenge perceptions of reality. Radiant spheres of light appear as solid yet intangible entities; these spheres of light only exist in your perception. As perspectives broaden, purple-blue spheres of darkness also emerge, as though darkness has been solidified. Touching the light of a sphere ignites an intense glow, triggering a harmonious ripple effect across neighbouring spheres. This artwork cannot exist on its own—its existence is a phenomenon created by its environment.
Building upon the previous realm of light and darkness, Levitation Void introduces an order of energy at the centre of its space, a void that is born and maintained by its environment. The void rises to a new existence, one that hovers freely in the air—transcending the concept of a tangible object, levitating effortlessly in the middle of its space, neither grounded nor confined to a ceiling. When pushed, it may move or fall to the ground, but as if by instinct, it slowly rises again, repairing itself and remaining in a state of levitation.
An immersive and sensory journey
Autonomous abstraction
The dots of light blink and change colour in cycles unique to each dot. A spontaneous order phenomenon occurs between dots that are close to each other, and their hues and the rhythm at which they blink gradually synchronise. When people touch them, the rhythm of the blinking hues change and are randomised, but the dots close to each other once again cause a spontaneous order phenomenon between them.
Through the shape of the space and the presence of people, the flow changes and lines are drawn.
Floating lamps that resonate in spontaneous order with people.
An artwork of continuity and existence.
The artwork is based on flow, vortex and cycle where lines are drawn in the space according to the movement of the water particles.
Through interaction from guests’ feet or from the touch of their hands on the walls, butterflies will emerge.
The movement of hundreds of thousands of birds is both beautiful as it is mysterious, appearing like a single giant presence. Where the biological mechanism that causes the movement of a flock of birds remains a mystery, there is a structure of space and time where it is recognised as a single entity. Guests can experience a universe of a new form of space and time, in which the constituent elements are separated in time and space but can still be a powerful existence. In this exhibit, one shared ecosystem is created by the various creatures drawn by guests.
Guests will step into a water garden filled with ovoids. When an ovoid is pushed by a guest, it shines brightly and emits a sound tone which prompts ovoids around it to also respond one after another—emitting the same light colour and sound tone that continues to resonate outward.
This space is a three-dimensional terrain with rises and falls that depict shifts in water levels over time, changing the form of the dry land. Guests can enter the water and walk around.
To learn more about teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi or purchase tickets, visit: www.teamlababudhabi.com.
For more information about Saadiyat Cultural District, visit: https://scdabudhabi.ae/
