Let there be light

The Story of Light Festival, which recently concluded in Goa, saw art and science come together to create some awe-inspiring experiences

January 23, 2015 07:20 pm | Updated 07:20 pm IST

 light in reflection

light in reflection

In a span of five days, scientists, engineers and artists came together and created rainbows on a beach by splitting sunlight, shot Panjim from a camera on a helium balloon, formed and dissolved clouds in a glass cube, deciphered principles of quantum mechanics with paint and paper, and created the world’s largest photographic print, starring the citizens of Panjim. This was the Story of Light Festival that took place between January 14 and January 18. And guess what? The entry was free for all.

Panjim just wrapped up the first edition of this first-of-its-kind festival, a window into the intersection of science and art. The installations exposed students from around 35 schools to ideas of varying complexities across science, technology, art, music, spirituality and psychology.

“At one level, we are trying to figure out the best medium for imparting such knowledge. Art makes this possible. The reach of the digital medium is the widest, but you just can’t beat the personal human element that comes with the festival format,” says Nash Paul D’Souza, the Creative Director at The Story of Light Festival.

The science-meets-art angle for the festival was grabbed by the local government, and the scientists and artists were given access to pretty much every public space in the city, from the heritage structures and beaches to the public parks and churches. One of the most engaging public installations was at the famous Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, where visitors could dial a number and talk to a large LED star that responded to the caller’s voice. Another favourite was the walls of the Old GMC Building being invaded by giant projections of ants crawling on the heritage structure. The projections were of real ants that were crawling, live, right there on a 3D-printed miniature of the building.

The Commissioner of Panjim, Sanjit Rodrigues, says, “Citizens and tourists can now explore our city in new ways, and be exposed to new ideas and technology with a festival such as this. It fit perfectly in our city’s master plan to be a city that offers events that are knowledge-based, interesting and world-class.”

For those five days, Miramar Beach had become home to the Rainbow Hut, which was a meditation room in the morning, filled with multiple rainbows created from giant bowls of water. On the promenade was installed a giant pinhole camera, also known as camera obscura, that could hold up to 10 people, from where they watched performances by blindfolded Brazilian contemporary dancers. The city was strewn with stimuli for multiple senses.

The seeds of the idea for this festival came from all over the globe. Jaya Ramchandani, the Festival Director, says key influences came from three events — Glow, the light art festival in the Netherlands; The Transit of Venus public outreach event in East Timor, that got students and the general public engaged in viewing the transit of our planetary neighbour in front of the sun; and finally a Poland-based event called Communicating Astronomy with the Public that aims to demonstrate the heat generated from rapidly-moving particles in a star, by putting a DJ and party-goers in a sealed subway.

Granted, the Story of Light had its share of teething problems like any start-up festival would, with scheduling clashes, unexplained last-minute cancellations of events, a shortage of volunteers, sceptical fence-sitting sponsors and some artists even working pro bono. However, at the end of it, the festival gave around 25,000 visitors access to high-tech installations, workshops and performances for free.

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