Innovative creations by Random International, teamLab, A.A.Murakami, Simon Heijdens, and Es Devlin delve into the intersection of artistry, digital innovation, and the environment
MUMBAI, INDIA, September 16, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) is proud to debut Second Nature, a pioneering immersive exhibition shedding light on the dynamic, interconnected bond between humanity, technology, and the natural environment. This worldwide initiative unites a diverse assembly of creators at the cutting edge of art and tech, spearheaded by the co-founder and curator of the innovative experiential art enterprise Superblue. Occupying every level of the Art House, the showcase features expansive installations from Random International, teamLab, A.A.Murakami, Simon Heijdens, and Es Devlin, each reacting to the space and audience engagement, marking their inaugural presentation in India. The exhibition is currently open and will run until January 10, 2027.
“Art is now moving past conventional boundaries, influenced not only by human creativity but also by intelligent systems that are learning to perceive our surroundings. With Second Nature, our goal was to deliver an experience for the nation that ignites wonder, emotion, and contemplation—a journey into how technology, nature, and human ingenuity are growing ever more connected,” stated Ms. Isha Ambani. “This exhibition welcomes visitors to engage in a conversation with the future, one that already feels remarkably tangible.”
Curated by Superblue co-founder Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst and head of curatorial Margot Mottaz, Second Nature converts digital frameworks into interactive spaces that encourage active engagement rather than mere viewing. Through the artists’ inventive approaches, familiar and sometimes unsettling technologies that increasingly shape our daily lives are transformed into sensory, evocative, and poetic experiences—highlighting the interplay between control and release, be it from algorithms or the natural cycles of decay and renewal. Moving beyond flat screens or canvases, these immersive pieces prompt visitors to move, react, touch, and become integral to the artwork. Second Nature explores the dissolving lines between human, nature, and technology, drawing audiences into the vibrant systems influencing our collective tomorrow.
This exhibition reinforces NMACC’s mission—showcasing India’s finest to the globe and bringing global excellence to India. Earlier displays at the Art House have featured works by renowned figures like Doug Aitken, Maurizio Cattelan, Pierpaolo Ferrari, and the Dia Art Foundation. Additionally, the National Pavilion of India at the 61st International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, alongside NMACC and Serendipity Arts, underscores the Centre’s dedication to promoting India’s artistic legacy internationally.
“We’re thrilled to introduce some of the most captivating artists in experiential art to India for the first time with the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, offering their diverse, interactive installations to fresh audiences. The pieces in Second Nature reveal how technology can amaze, delight, and motivate us, while also prompting us to consider their significant effects on our everyday lives,” added Dent-Brocklehurst and Mottaz.
DETAILS ON THE INSTALLATIONS
Floor One: Random International
The three pieces from the London-based collective Random International delve into the psychological nuances of digital observation, examining identity, memory, and our instinctive emotional ties to our own reflections. By transforming automated systems into responsive mirrors, these works merge the lines between human and machine, observer and art, placing the viewer as the central focus. Central to this is Presence and Erasure (2019), a “portrait machine” that captures and briefly prints oversized photographs of visitors, which then fade to nothing within about a minute: a fleeting, unrepeatable moment commenting on the impermanence of our existence.
Accompanying this is Our Future Selves (2019), where participants encounter their three-dimensional likenesses reduced to luminous dots. The experience feels familiar yet ghostly, hovering in an ambiguous psychological zone between a live reflection and a static image. Additionally, Audience (2008) presents a gathering of human-like, mechanical mirrors. As visitors approach, these mirrors shift from their independent motions to track the person in a unified, curious manner. Facing their own image from all directions, the visitor feels an eerie, heightened self-awareness, transitioning from a passive onlooker to an engaged participant within a collective, fluid environment.
Floor Two: teamLab
The three installations by Tokyo-based collective teamLab explore harmony between humans and their surroundings via living, ever-changing digital realms shaped by human interaction. Rather than viewing humanity and nature as opposites, these immersive works celebrate an inclusive ecosystem featuring people, urging visitors to move beyond passive observation and engage actively in a shared, vibrant setting. One of teamLab’s signature interactive spaces, Flowers and People, Cannot be Controlled but Live Together (2014—ongoing), offers a real-time floral environment that blooms and decays in response to human presence. Since no prior visual state can be replicated, each moment is unique, reflecting a relationship with nature that is perpetually distinct.
Resonating Microcosms — Solidified Light (2022—ongoing) grounds teamLab’s exploration of interactive illumination in the physical realm, featuring a captivating cluster of glowing, multicolored ovoid forms that brighten and produce sound upon contact, crafting an abstract setting where the visitor is essential. The NMACC version introduces new suspended light features that broaden the vibrant spectrum, subjectivity, and visual depth of earlier versions. Finishing this floor is Nirvana (2013), a reinterpretation of an 18th-century Japanese work by Ito Jakuchu. Constructed in a virtual 3D space and transformed into teamLab’s signature “ultrasubjective space,” the piece distributes color across tens of thousands of screen segments to defy fixed perspective. For this NMACC display, the artwork is rendered on a striking wall of rhinestones that scatter and refract light. Producing a mesmerizing visual effect, two contrasting views coexist: from afar, vivid flora and fauna move gently, while up close, the pixelated hues shift at a rapid, captivating pace, obscuring the distinction between traditional stillness and abstract pixel art while mirroring nature’s endless cycle.
Floor Three: Simon Heijdens and A.A.Murakami
The two installations by Simon Heijdens and A.A.Murakami prompt visitors to reflect on a nascent future where technology moves beyond screens and becomes physical, adopting the rhythms and impermanence of the natural world. These pieces introduce elements of unpredictable organic chance into the pristine gallery setting, relying on the audience’s physical presence and the outdoor climate to come alive. Heijdens’ Lightweeds (2005—ongoing) brings a fluctuating natural cadence to the constructed space through a system of plants that thrive, shift, and expand based on real-time data from weather sensors outside the building. The piece evolves continuously, influenced by local weather and visitor movement, exposing the site’s inherent natural qualities. A.A.Murakami’s New Spring (2017—ongoing) is an interactive tree-like structure emitting mist-filled blossoms. These fragile “bubbles” pop on contact with skin, turning spring’s fleeting beauty into a tangible, communal event that stirs a profound emotional and psychological appreciation for nature’s fragility and impermanence.
Floor Four: Es Devlin
The exhibition reaches its peak on the fourth floor with Screenshare (2025), a significant piece by British artist Es Devlin, presented in a fresh iteration crafted specifically for NMACC. The installation features a monumental screen assembled from 365 physical sketchbooks containing marks, drawings, and processes tracing the artist’s thoughts over the last quarter-century. Against this archival backdrop, a brief film unfolds starring dancer Dam Van Huynh, who has been newly filmed performing alongside footage of his younger self captured about two decades earlier for Devlin’s original rendition: a contemplative piece on how the body records change as we navigate life. Screenshare dissolves the barrier between viewer and artwork in its closing moments: at the film’s end, visitors are invited to step forward and take a physical page of the screen home. This participatory act permanently dismantles the installation’s physical form, turning an intimate personal archive into a shared, dispersed narrative.
ABOUT THE NITA MUKESH AMBANI CULTURAL CENTRE
The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) stands as a pioneering, multi-disciplinary arts hub located in the heart of Mumbai, India. Since its inauguration in March 2023, it has become a significant cultural institution, uniting the finest from India and abroad in live performance, visual arts, and craftsmanship on a global stage, with culture at the core of every endeavor.
The Centre houses three dynamic performance venues – the majestic 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, the technologically sophisticated 198-seat Studio Theatre, and the cozy 80-seat Cube – in addition to the four-story Art House, a dedicated visual arts space featuring exhibitions and immersive works by leading artists and curators from India and worldwide. Across its concourses, NMACC showcases an impressive collection of public art by celebrated Indian and international artists, along with Swadesh by Reliance Foundation, an ongoing display honoring India's rich artisanal heritage.
In just three years, the Cultural Centre has established a notable footprint, hosting an exceptional range of visual arts showcases such as POP: FAME, LOVE AND POWER by Lawrence Van Hagen, Run As Sure As You Can by TOILETPAPER, two well-received editions of Bhakti, UNDER THE SUN by Doug Aitken, and most recently A Fistful of Sky by Subodh Gupta, among others.
Complementing its artistic offerings are curated dining experiences at NMACC Arts Cafe, NMACC Theatre Cafe, and The Bar.
Recognized globally, NMACC is the first Indian arts institution to be included in the esteemed Japanese publication Madame Figaro as one of the world’s seven leading cultural destinations.
The National Pavilion of India at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia – Geographies of Distance: remembering home – presented by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in partnership with NMACC and Serendipity Arts, and curated by Dr. Amin Jaffer, further bolsters the Centre’s expanding cultural influence.
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Shreya Labh
Resnicow and Associates
+1 212-671-5163
nmacc@resnicow.com
