Media-Only Preview Report: teamLab Biovortex Kyoto Opens October 7, 2025—Kyoto’s New Attraction and Placemaking Through Art
On October 7, 2025, a new permanent art museum by teamLab, “teamLab Biovortex Kyoto,” will open in the Higashi-Kujo area of Minami Ward, a short walk from Kyoto Station. The project is part of the Kyoto Station Southeast Area Project led by the City of Kyoto. Ahead of the opening, we were granted early on-site access to the museum under construction for a media-only preview.
What Is teamLab Biovortex Kyoto?
“teamLab Biovortex Kyoto” is teamLab’s largest permanent museum in Japan, with a total floor area of approximately 10,000 square meters.
Alongside internationally acclaimed signature works, the museum will feature many new pieces making their first appearance in Japan. Its defining characteristic is a body-immersive format in which visitors physically enter the artwork: rather than merely viewing, you become part of the piece and feel the art with your whole body. This new sense of discovery and wonder is about to take shape in Kyoto.
Access: A 7-Minute Walk from Kyoto Station—A New View in the City
Located in Higashi-Kujo, Minami Ward, the museum sits about a 7-minute walk from Kyoto Station’s Hachijo Gate. The district is being redeveloped as part of the Kyoto Station Southeast Area Project. Within a quiet residential neighborhood, a contemporary five-story building—unlike anything previously seen here—has taken shape.
At first glance the exterior feels austere, but once inside the impression changes completely.
Five Artworks Revealed in the August Preview
On August 5, a portion of “teamLab Biovortex Kyoto” was unveiled early to the media. A guided walkthrough was held, giving reporters the chance to experience the exhibition spaces firsthand. While the overall project is said to be only about 10% complete at this stage, the preview focused on five completed artworks and introduced their appeal.
It was, in effect, a mid-production glimpse, yet the hallmarks of teamLab were already palpable: deeply immersive environments and experiences that go beyond mere viewing. The preview only heightened anticipation for the full opening.
Morphing Continuum
Light, silver, balloon-like forms ride the air and sweep through the room. Their motion shifts in response to the soundscape.
In this preview we observed two behaviors: a tornado-scale vortex tracing a large spiral, and a lateral, room-circling drift. In both cases, the trajectory remained unpredictable—this contingency is a key part of the work’s appeal.
The space is constructed as an environment in which viewers themselves become elements. With minimal interference—simply watching in silence—you naturally slip into immersion.
呼応するランプの森：One Stroke – Fire / Forest of Resonating Lamps: One Stroke – Fire
From 2018–2022, “Forest of Resonating Lamps” was exhibited at teamLab Borderless in Odaiba; now it returns in Kyoto. As you walk among the countless lamps, the lamp closest to you changes color, and that light propagates outward from lamp to lamp. The result is a wondrous space that feels as if the lamps extend to infinity.
Near the entrance, a 3D model shows the lamps’ switching and color transitions in real time. You can see at a glance where color changes are occurring at any given moment. The lamps’ colors change in the same order as the palette of parameters displayed on the right.
Massless Amorphous Sculpture
Countless bubbles made of air, water, and soap float through the space like clouds, gently bobbing. Reach out and they either slip right through your fingers or pop and disappear with a soft crackle. Their forms change from moment to moment—ephemeral and ever-shifting. At times the bubbles gather into a single, monumental shape, projecting a presence wholly unlike that of any conventional sculpture.
Because the bubbles will get on you during the experience, wearing a raincoat and mask is mandatory. Afterward, a blower lets you quickly clear off the suds, so there’s little need to worry about your clothes or hair—it almost feels as if your whole body has been washed. Do take care if you bring cameras or other devices into the space.
鳥道 The Way of Birds
A space opens up in the form of a quarter circle. It feels like a planetarium expanded to the left, right, front, and overhead. The floor is highly reflective, so the imagery appears to flow continuously in 360 degrees with no breaks. Standing within it, you feel as if you’re drifting through the cosmos and spacetime—edges soften, boundaries dissolve, and the sense of place becomes deliberately ambiguous.
Untitled
On a tall wall, seasonal flowers appear and vanish. The blooms seem to fill the entire space, creating an uncanny sensation that your own height has suddenly diminished. When you gently touch the wall, that area glows gold and the flowers scatter in a fleeting cascade. You are not merely watching—the movement of your body and the act of touching actively transform the world of the work.
Massless Suns and Dark Suns
Traces of Life
Who Is the Art Collective teamLab? A Multidisciplinary Group Creating Art Together
teamLab has been active since 2001. The collective brings together specialists from diverse fields—artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, architects, and more—to create artworks collaboratively.
At teamLab Planets TOKYO in Toyosu, annual visitors exceeded 2.5 million in fiscal 2023, earning a Guinness World Records title for the “single-artist museum with the most annual visitors.” In April 2025, the collective also opened a new museum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), further expanding the global wave of experiential art.
Editor’s Note: Hachijo Exit Poised to Become a New Art Hub—Expectations for Tourism and Urban Revitalization
Kyoto Station is the gateway that welcomes visitors from across Japan and around the world. The emergence of a new attraction so close to the station gives the many people who converge on Kyoto another compelling option.
Beyond tourism, I hope this venue will cultivate ties with local residents and young artists, and—by leveraging the power of art and culture—help draw younger generations while also engaging social issues such as depopulation and aging. It marks an important step in Kyoto’s culture-and-arts–driven city branding and regional revitalization. For Kyoto, where dispersing visitor traffic is a pressing challenge, enhancing the appeal of the Hachijo Exit area could be a genuine boon.
Use cases in the MICE space are also promising: Free Independent Travelers (FIT) and excursions, incentive travel, and site visits and training programs. For now, I’m simply looking forward to the grand opening on October 7, 2025.
Overview: teamLab Biovortex Kyoto
Opening: October 7 (Tue), 2025
Address: 京都市南区東九条東岩本町21-5
21-5 Higashikujo Higashi-Iwamotocho, Minami-ku, Kyoto
Exhibition period: October 7 (Tue), 2025 – Permanent
Hours: 9:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Last admission: 7:30 p.m.
Closed days:
October 21 (Tue), 2025; November 4 (Tue), 2025; November 18 (Tue), 2025; December 2 (Tue), 2025; December 16 (Tue), 2025
Note: Dates are subject to change. Please check the official website for updates.
Website https://www.teamlab.art/e/kyoto/
