When technology turns nature into art

TECHNOLOGY and environment are often considered occupying opposite positions but should they be? The answer is no, for the famous Team Lab collective, which has been working on a brand new digital exhibition. The event is ambitious: it intends to transform nature into art by means of the digital tools that have contributed to this group of artists' worldwide fame.

Although our addiction to our screens and our need to reconnect with our environments seem to be born out of two opposing motivations, internationally renowned artists collective Team Lab is back to teach us how new technologies can also serve nature.

The Japan-based group, which includes engineers, 3D animators, artists and architects, will unveil a new digital demonstration on February 1 at the Kairakuen garden in the city of Mito, an hour and a half north of Tokyo.

It's a spot that the Japanese like to visit in a bid to slow down, het away from the hectic march of time by reconnecting with the 3,000 plum trees that populate the natural site created in 1842.

An 800-year old tree is the star of this garden, which is is a classic example of the green spaces found throughout the Japanese archipelago.

Japanese people frequently come to such sites and photograph them during festivals dedicated to honoring nature. Families gather to observe the customs of hanami (for cherry blossom festival in spring) and momiji (for maple tree observation in autumn). At the end of the year, the red hue of the trees is highlighted by multiple light installations that visitors come to admire every evening.

Team Lab plans to extend these tradition with eight installations combining sound and light, in the same vein as the installations that have travelled the world in recent years. With each installation Team Lab invites visitors to become the central point of works in movement, all built with digital projections.

The group plays with shapes, colors, reflections -- anything that can provide a stage or support for the light. In the garden of Mito, it is the trees and objects in the shape of eggs that will be bathed in light.

And there is also special significance for the location of this new event since the site celebrates its 180th anniversary this year. The exhibition is scheduled to run through March 31, when the cherry trees will start to bloom.