Overview
Whether sprawling across a Tokyo warehouse, taking over a Japanese castle, turning old oil tanks into waterfalls or even popping up in Melbourne, the digital art made by creative collective Teamlab can make you feel like you're in another world. That's a sensation we could all after the past year year, even if visiting the group's overseas sites is currently off limits due to international travel restrictions. Enter Teamlab's latest project: the online-only Sakura Bombing Home.
If it sounds familiar, that's because it's a twist on Flowers Bombing Home, which Teamlab launched in 2020. The project has been updated for cherry blossom season, because Japanese students usually graduate at this time of year — but can't currently enjoy the usual festivities due to the pandemic.
Like the bulk of Teamlab's work, Sakura Bombing Home is interactive; however, as its name suggests, art lovers can take part from their own couch. The collective is asking its audience to draw and colour-in pictures of cherry blossoms — either on paper or on your phone — then take a photo and upload it to the group's site. Your pics will then be added to the bright, kaleidoscopic, constantly moving and evolving piece.
That's the participatory part of the project. When it comes to watching — whether you've gotten arty first, or you just want to view the piece without breaking out your colouring pencils — you can head to Teamlab's YouTube channel. Sakura Bombing Home is live streaming constantly, joining together cherry blossoms created by folks all over the world. While viewing, you'll notice petals scattering, then coming together to form new images.
Unsurprisingly given the sensory nature of its physical installations, Teamlab recommends viewing Sakura Bombing Home on your television set, "or as large a device as possible".
The project will be available for the foreseeable future, too, with the collective advising that it "will bloom until the end of the coronavirus" — and that it'll also stick around afterwards "for people to remember this era".
For more information about Teamlab's 'Sakura Bombing Home' — or to add your own drawing — visit the art collective's website. To watch the live-streamed artwork, head to its YouTube channel.