A new public art initiative in Abu Dhabi, Manar Abu Dhabi, made quite a splash in the Middle East’s art scene. The art festival began in early 2023 and took its name from the Arabic word for “lighthouse”—showcased light artworks by both local and global artists and collectives across Abu Dhabi, in locations such as Lulu, Saadiyat, the Fahid islands, the Eastern Mangroves and more. Works shown at Manar ranged from light projection art and site-specific sculptures to large-scale art installations and immersive installation works that activate light, dazzling audiences across the emirates. 

Manar’s inaugural edition ran from November 15 2023 – January 30 2024, themed around the idea of “Grounding Light.” The art exhibition was curated by Reem Fadda, Director of Abu Dhabi Culture Programming and Cultural Foundation, and Artistic Director of Public Art Abu Dhabi, along with artist and public art curator Alia Zaal Lootah. The art event brought together practices ranging from Japan, India, Taiwan, the UAE, the United States, the United Kingdom and beyond, along with the prominent international art collective – teamLab. teamLab’s contribution to Manar, Mangrove Island saw them take over the Samaliyah mangrove island of Abu Dhabi with several site-specific light installation pieces, from December 21 onwards, until the end of January. The collective developed their project to spark new cognitive insights; they joined STIR to discuss their shared undertaking.

teamLab’s installations at Samaliyah included Life is Continuous Light – Mangrove Forest, which illuminated the trees in the forests, increasing their incandescence and causing them to emit a sound when audiences passed by, Resonating Microcosms – Solidified Light Color featured ovoids that glow autonomously and also release sound when they are pushed, and Pillars that Dance with the Wind engaged the audience with fluid, illuminated pillars that contort and right themselves with the flow of air. Additional installations included Forest of Autonomous Resonating Life and Autonomous Resonating Life and Resonating Trees, which is composed of a sphere of light suspended above the treetops much like a second sun, the Path Leading to the Mangrove Forest piece treated the viewers to a musical experience that reacted to their pace, and Universe of Fire Particles on the Island created a scintillating illusion of fire on the island. Lastly, and perhaps most compellingly, the team presented Spatial Calligraphy in the Forest – One Stroke, which is a durational light art installation, composed of an unceasing stream of luminescence flowing through the trees on the island, before dissipating entirely.

After marvelling at Spatial Calligraphy, one wonders how teamLab establishes a balance between controlling the movement of light and allowing the mangrove island’s environment to guide it. The collective explained that it is the latest iteration of a form of calligraphy that the team had been exploring since the group’s inception. teamLab told STIR, “The artwork reconstructs calligraphy in three-dimensional space to express the depth, speed and power of the brush stroke, and that calligraphy is then flattened using the logical structure of space that teamLab calls ‘Ultrasubjective Space’.” The term is used to describe a spatial approach that seeks to incorporate the viewer within the art. With regards to a balance between control over the stroke of light and the mangrove island’s specificities, the collective allows the trees to guide the path of the stroke, but retain control over its intensity and colour.

teamLab emphasises that at Samaliyah, they had attempted to make audiences keenly aware of the continuation between their inner worlds and the natural world. In their words, “It may be the nature that local UAE people are used to, but we felt it is very beautiful. Mangroves, trees, gazelle, birds, insects and the other natural elements of the island – we felt these are the heritage of Abu Dhabi even if people have not realised it, or have forgotten them.”

The international art collective expressed hope that their works for the light art festival will prompt audiences to ponder the aforementioned sense of continuity. They endeavoured to transform nature into art through their offering, “The shapes and textures of nature as well as the changes wrought over time represent overwhelming information beyond what humans can comprehend,” they stated to STIR. It is this massive spike in sensorial data that perhaps sits at the heart of art’s ability to alter our thinking, and teamLab strived to curate a similar experience with Samaliyah.

teamLab's intervention at Manar, Abu Dhabi ran from November 15 2023 - January 30 2024.