Spatial Calligraphy: Line, Space, Overlap, Continuous and Uncontinuous, 2 sets of 5 screens - Black in White

teamLab, 2016, Digital Installation, 3 min (loop)

Spatial Calligraphy: Line, Space, Overlap, Continuous and Uncontinuous, 2 sets of 5 screens - Black in White

teamLab, 2016, Digital Installation, 3 min (loop)

Spatial Calligraphy is calligraphy drawn in space, a form of calligraphy that teamLab has been exploring since it was founded. The artwork reconstructs calligraphy in three dimensional space to express the depth, speed and power of the brush stroke, and that calligraphy is then flattened using the logical structure of space that teamLab calls Ultrasubjective Space. The calligraphy shifts between two and three dimensions.

In premodern Japan, depth was constructed without linear perspective , not just in painting, but in actual space itself. In the gardens of France's Palace of Versailles, trees of the same species and height are planted at regular, uniform intervals. A continuous sense of depth in the garden is created by the way in which identical trees systematically appear smaller as one looks to the horizon. Conversely, at the gardens at the Shugakuin Rikyu Imperial Villa in Japan, the scenery consists of a foreground, middleground, and background, and a sense of depth is achieved by layering.

For this artwork teamLab expresses Japanese calligraphy in a variety of spaces, then brings these spaces together in a single exhibition area. It is an experimental work to explore what experiences can be created when the spaces where the calligraphy is drawn and the larger area where it is exhibited relate to each other.