New fangled art

During my many years in NYC, I was lucky enough to be able to visit numerous art exhibitions. Some of them featured classic works, while some were cutting edge and modern. It naturally led to the question: what is art? Does a pile of computer wires dangling from the ceiling suffice? What about an installation of 20 TV screens in one room, each blaring out a segment of a haunting song?

I've always struggled a bit to answer that question. Even the technically perfect paintings at the Met sometimes struck me as soulless. And so in that regard, I decided that for my own personal definition, art makes me FEEL something. Happiness, sadness, confusion... sure, I can roll with that. All this is to preface that I went to a rather interesting exhibition recently.

TeamLab Taipei is a creative group that strives to meld together the combinations of art, science, and technology. To this end, they put together an... experience, so to speak, that is quite interesting and unique. Visitors wander through a dark maze, to be deposited into various rooms filled with projected light. As each person walks through the rooms and along the walls, the light patterns get projected onto them as well, so that they too, become part of the 'art'. There was also a room filled with large bouncy balls, each lit up in a brilliant color. It was simultaneously beautiful and playful. The whole experience resulted in a feeling that I don't feel like pops up a lot when I go to art exhibitions... that of childlike wonder.

Wait, what? My expression doesn't convey childlike wonder??

Big colored balls... everywhere!

Of course, as I spend these few paragraphs putting an artful spin on this place, the rest of Taipei's young population was busy taking as many selfies as possible. Every single person had their cell phone out, sometimes spending many minutes trying to get the perfect shot. I admit, I took quite a few pictures myself, but I thought this became an interesting piece of social commentary. So many visitors were so busy taking pictures, that they didn't quite get a chance to just look around the room and absorb its beauty. Is that life today then, and what are we missing as we glue our eyes to our electronic devices?

Taipei's youth, just hanging around

Okay, fine. You caught me... I was on my phone too!

My favorite room was of course, the shortest one that the organizers hustled visitors through. You walked through heavy black drapes to come into a brilliant land of brightness and mirrors. It's a little dazzling as your eyes adjust, and then you feel like you're being literally bathed in a shower of ever-changing lights. It's all at once beautiful and overwhelming.

Loitering visitors, taking snapshots

Closeup of the brilliant lights

Okay, this made for pretty stunning photo ops too

It's interesting, this crossroads of art-meets-social media-meets-vanity. It's definitely not highbrow, but definitely pleasing to the masses. Which, in essence, may define modern art at its finest.

(caveat: the pictures posted here really don't do the exhibition justice; I wore black so the projections don't show up as well. I am just wary about posting pictures of my friends without their knowledge)