MUSEUM MEMO

from What's On Abu Dhabi - January 2023

STAYCATION SPOTLIGHT

A PHENOMENAL ACHIEVEMENT

teamLab Phenomena makes significant progress

What is teamLab Phenomena?

Set for completion in 2024, teamLab Phenomena is somewhere between an interactive art gallery and an immersive ongoing science experiment. A visceral, digital Narnia designed to engage the senses with algorithm and AI driven attractions.

The Abu Dhabi based cultural megaproject is a collaborative effort between DCT Abu Dhabi, Miral and Japanese future tech company teamLab – and the result, as you can see from the renders, looks set to be an engineering masterpiece.

It’s currently under construction in the hive of megaproject activity that is Saadiyat Cultural District. The architectural marvel represented by the building is more than skin deep. The futuristiclooking space will stretch across a 17,000 sqm gallery area and is billed to become the ‘home of infinite curiosity’. It’s a pretty cool concept. The collections within will be curated around a theme of ‘environmental phenomena’ and ‘offering new perspectives on the world’. The true genius here though is that the exhibits will be shaped by the changing environment and, similarly to their organic inspiration, will grow and evolve mimicing the subject matter.

Each piece will be designed to respond to its specific local environment within the teamLab Phenomena building, and the interactions it encounters. This constantly changing virtual world means that every visit, by every guest will yield a different experience.

teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi_H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak visits Japan teamLab PAD

What can we expect when it opens?

WHAT ELSE IS COMING TO THE SAADIYAT CULTURAL DISTRICT?

Saadiyat Cultural District, already home to Louvre Abu Dhabi, will soon be home to three other cleverly curated galleries and museums

01

Zayed National Museum

Once completed, the Zayed National Museum will provide an architecturally astounding home for the inspiring story of our nation and its visionary founder. Designed by Foster + Partners, the building will include a 123-metre-high tower. The main gallery will be devoted to a collection of artefacts illuminating aspects of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan – the man, and his leadership journey to the country’s unification, and beyond.

02

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

On track for completion in 2025, the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum will add a jagged smear of swoon to the Saadiyat Cultural District skyline. True to the spirit of Guggenheim (and conceived in collaboration with Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation), the plans for the building cut a contemporary, unconventional, but singularly beautiful design. Inside you’ll find 28 galleries across a 11,600 sqm expanse. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will exhibit a collection of modern and contemporary art with a special focus on pieces from the west Asia, north Africa, and south Asia (WANASA) region.

03

The Natural History Museum

Also due to open its doors in 2025, the Natural History Museum will include engaging exhibits curated to illuminate the universe’s 13.8 billion years of origin story. Also on site, a scientific research centre ‘that will undertake studies in zoology, palaeontology, marine biology, molecular research and earth sciences’. We also have context confirmation on two of the flagship exhibits – Stan, a 67 million year old tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, and the seven billion year-old Murchison Meteorite.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Shraddha Chaurasia

Over the past couple of years, huge digital transformations have been made in the art world. Terminology such as the metaverse, NFTs and crypto have become daily conversations, compelling artists to keep up to date with the world of 1s and 0s. This technology is even revolutionising the way that some art is created, with many artists now experimenting the medium of artificial intelligence (AI).

For those uninitiated, AI art is created using a specific programme where users enter a line of text known as a ‘prompt’. It is created without the need for paint or pen tools. Simply enter a prompt such as ‘Van Gogh’s Starry Night and the Eiffel Tower’, and watch as the programme scans thousands of related images before generating a new image based on what the AI has learned. This process usually takes less than a minute.

Shraddha Chaurasia, an Art Director at a strategic digital communications agency in Dubai, has recently started experimenting with the world of digital art. After a period of feeling the need to ‘switch off,’ she got into creating AI art. Using a programme called Midjourney, Chaurasia starts off with a colour theme, a unique location and the idea that she wants to convey.

But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Chaurasia tells us, “It’s a very long process of trial and error as, at times, the words you’re using are not being interpreted by the AI in the way you think they would be”. Some of her pieces take three hours to make, while others take around a day and a half.

When not working or creating, you’ll find Chaurasia volunteering at Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain. Much of her work is influenced by her love for dogs, “Nothing quite beats visiting a shelter in the middle of nowhere on a Saturday morning and having 15 dogs running towards you,” she tells us. Chaurasia also runs the Stray Dogs Centre TikTok account and is working on some new filters and posters in order to raise proceeds for the shelter.

The use of digital tools is hotly contested in the art world, with much debate of the legitimacy of skill and whether it can be considered ‘real’ art. “AI art will never replace real art,” says Chaurasia. “I think it will remain a tool to help artists achieve what they want on the canvas faster. It will cut down on tedious research time and will allow artists to focus more on the creative aspect,” she adds.

Futuristic Dubai is Chaurasia’s favourite creation. Using predominantly aqua tones, the artwork depicts what the digital artist imagines Dubai will look like in the future. Another one of her works gives viewers a glimpse of what the city would look like if covered in a blanket of snow.

The limitless possibilities of the medium is perhaps what makes it so interesting. Facing hurdles when the platform produces unexpected outcomes can be argued as a creative challenge in itself and overcoming these would indeed require much skill. But should we even look at the world of AI art with such a serious lens? “Experiment and have fun” is Shraddha Chaurasia’s message. @troveofvisuals