Universe of Fire Particles in the Forest - Secondary Forest

teamLab, 2022, Digital Installation, Continuous Loop

Universe of Fire Particles in the Forest - Secondary Forest

teamLab, 2022, Digital Installation, Continuous Loop

The flames of Universe of Fire Particles in the Forest - Secondary Forest change shape due to a dark, absolute presence.


Flames are a phenomenon of light and heat generated by combustion; it is a vaporized substance in a flow, a decomposed substance. It is our sensory experience of seeing what is in between phenomenon and substance. We perceive this sensory experience of the flame as a physical object, and at times feel that life resides within it.


Lines are drawn in relation to the flow of combusting gas, and the flames are created by the accumulation of those lines in three dimensions. The lines are then “flattened” using what teamLab considers to be Ultrasubjective Space to represent the flames.


teamLab is exploring the concept of Distributed Art.

If you launch the Distributed Fire smartphone application and approach this artwork, the flame will ignite in your phone, and you will be able to take the artwork home with you. When you bring that flame close to another person's smartphone, a flame will similarly alight in their phone. As you connect the flame, and they connect that flame with someone else, the flame will spread all over the world. The distributed flames are displayed on the Map of The Flame.


Distributed Art duplicates itself, or a part of an artwork is distributed among people. Then, once in the hands of the people, the artwork is further actively distributed, and also makes copies of itself. The artworks will be distributed and exist on people's networks and become decentralized. When the artwork exists on the network, it continues to exist even if the original disappears.