World's first digital art museum opens in Tokyo

The world’s first all-digital museum featuring 50 ‘borderless’ exhibits has opened in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

With no Japanese artifacts and no historical information, the Mori Building Digital Art Museum features made-for-Instagram artworks powered by 470 Epson projectors and 520 computers, divided into five distinct zones.

Located away from Tokyo’s top tourist attractions in the suburb of Odaiba, the 9,950 metre² attraction is the product of teamLab, the Japanese interdisciplinary art collective behind groundbreaking exhibits such as Futureworld in Singapore and Massless in Helsinki, Finland.

Combining marketing strategy and content production, the Museum it is designed to prove that, if institutions fashion themselves to look appealing on social media, the foot traffic (and online exposure) will flow.

According to one review, teamLab’s design “shows a deep understanding of the factors that can grant a space cult social media status: artsy without being stuffy or difficult; varied exhibits that evolve with the audience; and freedom of interaction within the exhibits.

“The overall concept is that art cannot be fully experienced when viewed from a distance, behind velvet rope barriers, or in glass boxes; it has to invite people to become a part of it, and therefore become part of the shot.

"The museum is built for people to have fun, with legs up in the air or hands outstretched, sliding around, bouncing on balls and generally looking happy. It is, quite literally, an Instagram playground.”

Since opening in June, the Museum’s JPY3,200 (US$29) entrance passes have sold out every day with a lengthy waiting lists for available tickets.

The opening of the Mori Building Digital Art Museum follows the opening of the Yayoi Kusama Museum, another single-artist, immersive space, in Tokyo last year.

Images: A universe of water particles on a rock where people gather (top), animals of flower symbiotic (middle) and visitors navigate through a digital universe of stars and black holes at the Mori Building Digital Art Museum (below). Images courtesy of teamlab.