Currently on display at Miraikan, the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Odaiba, Tokyo, is Shake! Art Exhibition! and Learn and Play! teamLab Future Park. It is billed as the first large-scale space featuring new and previously showcased artwork by the multidisciplinary "ultra-technologist" creative group teamLab. Although mainly catering to children, the exhibit will no doubt intrigue and delight visitors of all ages.

TeamLab's work pushes the boundaries of art, technology, education, and play. Visitors become engrossed in mural-sized projected videos with elaborate names such as "Crows are chased and the chasing crows are destined to be chased as well, Division in Perspective - Light in Dark," or "Flowers and People, Cannot be Controlled but Live Together, for Eternity - Tokyo." Intricate worlds are portrayed through detailed layers. "Flower and Corpse Glitch Set of 12" is a series of digital screens playing a hypnotic video loop that pays homage to traditional Edo-era screen paintings. Seen from a bird's-eye view with no central perspective, the pieces are all-encompassing yet distinctly Japanese. There are references to traditional ukiyo-e and byobu screen painting techniques as well as contemporary manga.

Some pieces are meant to be watched while others, like "Story of the Time when Gods were Everywhere," require user interaction. Kanji characters flow down the walls; when touched by the eager hands of visitors, they become their meaning. In other words, umi (sea) melts into a sea and tori (bird) transforms into a bird and flies away. As teamLab puts it, "When children touch the characters the world contained in those characters opens up and the story begins."

At the "Sketch Aquarium" children have the opportunity to create their own sea creatures on sheets of paper that are then scanned by museum staff and entered into a virtual sea. Their drawings come to life and begin swimming right before their eyes among sharks, stingrays, and the many creatures made by other visitors. It is hard to resist jumping onto the central installation, "Light Ball Orchestra," where giant glowing balls change color when touched. Children especially delight in discovering this cause and effect. TeamLab explains that the aim of these interactive pieces is to help children build confidence in their own creativity while appreciating other people's creations and sensing how each of their own choices and actions affects change visually.

TeamLab is not a small group of hobbyists. On the contrary, it is a sophisticated operation of over 300 self-described "ultra-technologists" with a variety of technical and creative backgrounds -- among them artists, architects, programmers, engineers, interface designers, and musicians. Founded in 2001 by Toshiyuki Inoko, the group has copyright over all of its creative endeavors, patents pending for new products, and its own proprietary software.

Shake! is truly at the cutting edge of digital and interactive installation art on an unprecedented scale. Photos can't do justice to the actual experience of this dynamic exhibit, as every piece is in constant motion. On digital technology as a medium, teamLab declares, "It can dramatically alter the relationship between people and art. Rather than just a visual experience, art can be changed into something that is more participatory and physically experienced. People's behavior itself changes the artwork."