teamLab Planets vs Borderless - A Review of Which To Go
Experiential vs Immersive
teamLab is one of the most popular digital art teams out there today, running a number of highly instagrammable and beautiful digital art museums across Asia and even around the world. Currently, there are two different TeamLab digital art museums, and it's always commonly asked: "How are they different, and which should I go to?".
This article aims to help explain the difference between teamLab Planets vs Borderless, and how to decide which one you should choose, or whether you should even go to both.
What is teamLab?
teamLab is an international art collective that was founded in 2001 that specialises in digital art. Their team consists of an interdisciplinary group of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and more in order to explore art and the natural world through science and technology.
Their art pieces can involve rather abstract concepts such as the relationship between oneself and the world, how people are separated into different entities, the connection between different entities in the world, and the passage of time.
Despite the complex nature of the topics teamLab seeks to explore, the art pieces themselves are often aesthetically pleasing and can be appreciated by both the old and young alike. While one might not be able to fully appreciate or understand the concept behind it, they can be absorbed into the sense of awe and wonder of the actual exhibit.
Today, teamLab runs a large number of exhibitions throughout the world, some permanent and some temporary. Some of their exhibits may be repeated in different museums, while some exhibits might be exclusive to a single museum. Regardless, each exhibition typically has a concept that they embrace, and that's what differentiates teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets.
チームラボプラネッツ
teamLab Planets
Tokyo's Best Immersive Digital Art Museum
TeamLab Planets is one of two digital art museums in Tokyo, alongside TeamLab Borderless (チームラボボーダレス, Chiimu Rabo Bōdaresu), that aims to engage visitors through their senses. While Borderless aims to engage its guests by getting them lost in the exhibits, Planets aims to engage its guests through their five senses. Visitors enter the museum exhibits bare-foot, taking you through exhibits on soft ground, a waterfall, a garden, and more. Each exhibit is designed to be immersive for the guests and is one of the more unique must-see museums in Tokyo.
A changing room is available for guests before entering the exhibits where they can store their belongings and shoes, as well as free rentable underpants for females due to reflective floor exhibits. Furthermore, towels are provided for free after every exhibit involving water. Do note that if you have visited other TeamLab museums before, some exhibits might be repeated from their other museums around the world.
TeamLab Borderless is a large digital art museum located at Azabudai Hills, and is one of two TeamLab exhibitions in Tokyo alongside TeamLab Planets (チームラボプラネッツ, Chiimu Rabo Piranettsu). TeamLab Planets focuses on a concept of allowing visitors to get lost in the exhibits, wandering around from room to room, and making new discoveries without any form of map or guide. As the entire digital art exhibit is dynamic, especially in the corridors, the digital art on display tends to move around and change over time, allowing for a new discovery even if you have passed through it before. Apart from the corridors, there are fixed exhibit rooms that host a wide variety of displays including some that focus purely on light, as well as some that mix the display of light with physical elements such as crystal balls or even a tea room.
The current TeamLab Borderless opened in 2023, and is an evolution of the previous TeamLab Borderless that was located in Odaiba (お台場). While the exhibits are different, many elements of the old exhibition have been tweaked, refined, and polished in the new TeamLab Borderless.
A commonly asked question is whether to visit TeamLab Borderless or TeamLab Planets, and we have a blog article written about this here. In gist, both exhibitions offer very different experiences and it is an apples to oranges comparison to say which is "better". Planets is more experiential, while Borderless is more visually striking would be the accurate way to describe each right now.
There is no "better" teamLab exhibition. It is really a matter of personal preference, and which one caters more to your sensibilities?
For teamLab Planets, the focus on interactivity, and tactile interaction with yourself, sets it apart. Since you need to take off your shoes in the changing room before entering, you truly get to experience the entire exhibition with all sorts of sensations. The use of water also helps to lend a sense of calmness and uniqueness to the exhibition, because when your feet are immersed in water, it does feel like you've stepped into the exhibition, instead of just looking at it on the wall.
For teamLab Borderless, the focus is on getting lost in the artwork. The idea is to just wander around between exhibits, getting lost in the experience, and feeling like the entire artwork is one seamless art piece end-to-end. Since teamLab Borderless' renewal at Azubudai Hills, many of the exhibits have become significantly more visually impressive with the use of newer technology including the Light Vortex, Microcosmoses, and Bubble Universe.
Borderless goes for a sense of scale, and neverending-ness. Planets goes for intimacy, intricately designing each exhibit on a small scale to indulge the human senses. Each have its own benefits, and it really depends on what you want to see.
When it comes to teamLab Planets vs Borderless. If you enjoy experiencing things in the "there and then", we would recommend checking out teamLab Planets. If you enjoy visually awing exhibits and Instagrammable shots, then we would recommend checking out teamLab Borderless. The two however, are more like DisneySea and Disneyland, both with its own unique themes, but with different exhibits that complement one another. So if you can, we really would recommend checking out both.
Alternatively, you can find the list of exhibits in Borderless here, and the list of exhibits in Planets here and see which are the exhibits that you want to see more.
If I have children, between teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets which would be better?
If you're planning to visit teamLab Borderless or teamLab Planets, do note that it is a digital art museum after all, and so for the regular exhibits, your children would need to keep an acceptable level of nice so as not to disturb the other guests.
teamLab Borderless has a large central area with a virtual waterfall, and the central structure is particularly popular as a slide for kids.
There's also an exhibit called Sketch Ocean, where children can sketch out their own aquatic lifeforms, have it scanned, and let it come alive in the exhibit's digital aquarium.
On the other hand, the tactile-ness of the exhibits in teamLab Planets, such as the water-based exhibits might be more fun for children, as they get to experience all sorts of different sensations, as opposed to just looking at things on the wall.
Either way, we believe that children would be able to enjoy both exhibitions, and it really depends on which one you want to go to? If your kids are more rowdy and energetic, we would recommend teamLab Borderless, if your kids are older and more curious, we would recommend teamLab Planets.
Should I go to both teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets?
There seems to always be this idea that you have to choose only one. Either teamLab Borderless or teamLab Planets, and that might not necessarily be the case. While admission tickets aren't cheap, both added together are still lower than the cost of say Disneyland. So trying to pick only one between the two, might sometimes feel like saying, I only want to go to one shrine or temple in Japan.
If you're not super into art, or aesthetics, and you're only going for the bucket list, then yes you should perhaps choose only one. However, the concept behind both exhibitions is so different, that we would highly recommend you go to check out both so that you can compare and see the difference for yourselves.
There isn't much overlap between the artwork on display in teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets, so you wouldn't have a repeated experience, and you can even think of the two as extensions of one another, with more artwork on display in the other building. That being said, the Crystal World exhibition does exist in both teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets, but we feel like the experience of walking barefoot in it for teamLab Planets lends it a completely different feel and experience.
Both teamLab Planets and teamLab Borderless open into the evening, so they might also make for a great way to book-end your day after a day of exploration, and where many of the daytime attractions have since closed.
If I'm not an art lover, is the visit to a teamLab Exhibition worth it?
Many of us on the team aren't art lovers, you probably wouldn't catch many of us voluntarily going to an art museum. Yet, the universal appeal of teamLab is precisely what sets it apart, and made it even the World's Most-Visited Single-Artist Museum. Even if you can't appreciate art, you can definitely appreciate the aesthetics and design that go into it. We feel like it is definitely worth going for at least a visit to see what the hype is all about, and is definitely one of the more quirky things that you can do and see in Tokyo.
If you're an all-out art-buff on the other hand, you might not even enjoy teamLab as much as you might feel like the artwork is overly pedestrianised for the regular public.
And so your mileage will definitely vary, but at the very least, we wouldn't call the experience overpriced or a tourist trap. It is something that will differ from person-to-person, but we would say it's worth at least one visit.
