AMSTERDAM.- Early 2024, the first immersive digital art space in Europe will open in Utrecht. The digital art space
Nowhere will be located on the ground floor of the visionary real estate project Wonderwoods. The world-famous art collective teamLab opens its first European permanent exhibition here.
Nowhere is not a traditional art gallery or a traditional museum: with the help of technology, it brings a new form of interactive multisensory artistic experience actively encourages participation with the public, never seen before in Europe. Nowhere's space has been designed to exhibit works by the world's leading artists and to facilitate great digital and interactive works, such as those by teamLab. TeamLab's exhibition will transform Nowhere's 3,000 m2 into a magical experience in which you are immersed, and which is never the same.
teamLab's digital art installations provide an enchanting and almost magical experience that blurs the boundaries between art, science, technology and the virtual and physical worlds. teamLab Borderless, a 'Digital Art Museum' solely dedicated to art by teamLab, attracted 2.3 million visitors last year, setting a record for the number of visitors at a single-artist museum in the first year.
teamLab is enthusiastic about the collaboration with Nowhere: “We are very excited to have the opportunity to bring this permanent exhibition to Nowhere. teamLab aims to explore the relationship between the self and the world and new perceptions through art. In order to understand the world around them, people separate it into independent entities with perceived boundaries between them. teamLab seeks to transcend these boundaries in our perception of the world, of the relationship between the self and the world, and of the continuity of time.
“Our permanent exhibition at Nowhere is scheduled to house a group of teamLab artworks, as well as ‘Future Park’ and ‘Athletics Forest’ areas. ‘Future Park’ is an educational project based on the concept of collaborative creation, or co-creation, where visitors can enjoy creating the world freely with others. ’Athletics Forest’ is a new ‘creative athletic space’ that helps train spatial awareness. It is a space that develops the body as well as the brain based on the concept of ‘understanding the world through the body and thinking of the three-dimensionality of the world.
“Through the enjoyment of art, we believe that the notion of ‘beautiful’ expands and spreads, which in turn changes people’s perceptions of the world. Everything exists in a fragile yet miraculous continuity over an extremely long period of time. teamLab’s exhibition at Nowhere aims to create an experience through which visitors recognize this continuity itself as beautiful, thereby changing or increasing the ways in which humans perceive the world. We hope that the Dutch public and international visitors are as excited as we are to experience this new and massive exhibition.”
Nowhere was initially developed by Martijn Sanders and Jeroen van Mastrigt during the tender Healthy Urban Quarter by the Municipality of Utrecht. Jeroen van Mastrigt, founder of Nowhere explains: “The Netherlands is a country with a high digital awareness, and thus makes it the perfect base for digital art collectives and exhibitions. Nowhere will make the future accessible, engaging and fun to a broad audience – and promises to be an invaluable addition to the Dutch museum and attraction sector. The fact that we have signed teamLab underlines this ambition.
Nowhere is located on the ground floor of Wonderwoods, the iconic green urban real estate project that will open in 2023.” With more than 360 trees and 9,649 shrubs and plants, the two green towers of Wonderwoods will provide a new balance between nature, technology and urban living. Jet Happel, G&S Vastgoed, the developer of Wonderwoods: “Based on our ‘Serving the City’ philosophy, we are proud to welcome a unique concept and a world-famous art collective to Utrecht. We invite visitors from all over the world to not only enjoy Wonderwoods as an iconic landmark but also to immerse themselves in a magical playground of digital art. This urban development will not only give an impulse to the immediate environment, but also to the city of Utrecht. Since Wonderwoods will literally grow next to the biggest public transport hub in the Netherlands, Nowhere will be extremely accessible for the whole country.
Digital art space Nowhere has been purchased by a.s.r. real estate on behalf of the ASR Dutch Mobility Office Fund and ASR Dutch Core Residential Fund together with approximately 14,000 sq.m. office space, 252 rental homes and facilities.
