The interactive work The World of Irreversible Change, which forms part of the permanent collection of the Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero (CAHH), has seen war break out among the inhabitants of the Japanese village as a result of visitors’ successive interactions.
This work by the Japanese collective teamLab is an interactive piece featuring a medieval Japanese village populated by farmers and samurai, connected to the outside of the city in which it is exhibited. As a result, the village reflects the same weather conditions and season as the place that hosts it — in this case, Valencia. When visitors touch the screen, they provoke a reaction of unease among the inhabitants and, after repeated interactions, this unease accumulates until the inhabitants begin to fight among themselves, unleashing an irreversible war. The World of Irreversible Change seeks to encourage reflection on responsibility and the consequences of our actions, and on how some of them cannot be undone: they are irreversible.
Total war
Once the inhabitants of the Japanese village begin to fight and war breaks out, there is no way for the work to return to its original state. After the battle, the city ends up engulfed in flames and, after some time, vegetation would take over the ruins, growing and evolving.
Exceptionally, and so that visitors can follow the evolution of the war in The World of Irreversible Change, the Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero will remain open on Sunday 15 in the afternoon and on Monday 16 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., days when it is normally closed to the public. In addition, it will maintain its regular opening hours for the rest of the week, from Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
About teamLab
Founded in Japan by Toshiyuki Inoko, teamLab is an international art collective made up of more than one hundred specialists in various fields, including artists, programmers, engineers, animators, mathematicians, and architects. Its collaborative practice moves away from the concept of the individual author who signs a work, seeking instead to explore the convergence of art, science, technology, and the natural world.