About the Installation

“Kavak Prakash” is a light based interactive art installation inspired by the phenomenon of bioluminescence of deep sea creatures. The name is derived from the Hindi terms for fungus (Kavak) and light (Prakash). Kavak Prakash is created from our imagination of those underwater bioluminescent creatures. They will be placed and brought to life in the dark and unexposed corners of Panjim to simulate an environment where humans and the bioluminescent creatures share the same land.

What fascinates us most about the bioluminescent phenomenon is that we have actually never seen it in reality. The fact that certain creatures use light signals and flashes for communication, navigation, mating, defence mechanisms as well as bait which are also visually stunning draw us to this subject.

The sense of surprise when you discover this interactive installation will hopefully drive people to know more about this organism and the property of bio-luminescence (in some of the most beautiful and endangered creatures) that is no longer seen with the kind of wonderment it deserves.

About the Artists

Abhinav and Vinay studied New Media Design at the National Institute of Design in Gandhinagar. Abhinav is also an architect from the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University (CEPT). Abhinav’s areas of interests lie in New Media Art, Architecture, Environments and Tangible interfaces. Vinay has a background in Electronics and his interests lie in Media Arts, Educational research and creating alternative ways of learning.
e. abhinav.m.n@gmail.com

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If you ever happen to visit Reethi Beach in the Maldives and see the sand turn a bright, fluorescent blue as the tide washes up on it, don’t panic. No one’s spiked your drink. What you are seeing is bioluminescent dinoflagellates from the waters.

Bioluminescence is light produced by a chemical reaction within a living organism. Bioluminescence is a type of chemiluminescence, which is simply the term for a chemical reaction where light is produced. (Bioluminescence is chemiluminescence that takes place inside a living organism.) Bioluminescence is a "cold light." Cold light means less than 20% of the light generates thermal radiation, or heat.

Most bioluminescent organisms are found in the ocean. These bioluminescent marine species include fish, bacteria, and jellies. Some bioluminescent organisms, including fireflies and fungi, are found on land. There are almost no bioluminescent organisms native to freshwater habitats.

About the Installation

The Origin of Clouds derives from an experiment to study the formation of clouds that appeared within the larger context of weather phenomena research at the end of the nineteenth century. The Cloud Chamber or Camera Nebulosa was originally built to create artificial clouds in the laboratory and investigate their emergence in the atmosphere. The experiment failed in explaining this phenomenon and was never able to provide a better understanding of clouds, storms or lighting. However, the Camera Nebulosa made an unexpected discovery by enabling the visualization of fundamental particles for the first time. This so-called “failed experiment” became the visual proof of the existence of the sub atomic world and had a profound influence on the research within the field of atomic energy.

The experiment recreated in The Origin of Clouds uses saturated fumes of isopropyl alcohol that lied over a frozen plate inside a sealed glass chamber. The alcohol forms a thing layer over the cooled surface, and with the help of a strong source of light, different elemental particles start to emerge. These particles – muons and electrons – are a consequence of Cosmic Rays originating in the sun and outside the solar system. The average speed of these particles is 299.400 km/s (close to the speed of light).

The Origin of Clouds documents the process by which fundamental particles become form and materiality. The visual result is an ever-changing flux of ephemeral shapes with unpredictable occurrence that emphasizes the phenomenon’s organizational logic in space and time.

About the Artist

Alejandro Borsani is an artist and educator who explores the intersection of natural and artificial systems by creating videos, installations, sculptures, custom software and electronics. His research is driven by a curiosity about simple physical phenomena and the exploration of emergent technologies.

His works have been presented in solo and group exhibitions internationally, including the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art (Buenos Aires), VideoBrasil (São Paulo, Brasil), Villa Elisabeth (Berlin, Germany), Centro Hipermediático Experimental Latinoamericano (Buenos Aires), Centro Cultural Borges (Buenos Aires), Gallery 400 (Chicago), Athletic Annex Exhibition (Albany), Center for PostNatural History (Pittsburg), ACM SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles), Galería Suchiche (Tarapoto, Perú), 14th Biennial Symposium for Arts and Technology (New London), Currents - The Santa Fe International New Media Festival (Santa Fe), Red Arrow Contemporary (Dallas), Federation Square (Melbourne, Australia), IDEAS_14 – International Digital Media and Arts Association (Orem, UT).

Borsani holds a MFA in Electronic Arts from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2012) and a MFA in Electronic Visualization from the School of Art and Design of the University of Illinois at Chicago (2010). He also received a degree in Audiovisual Design from the School of Architecture, Design and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires (2007). He served as faculty in the Creative Computation Program at the Southern Methodist University and in New Media Arts at the University of North Texas. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Foundation Studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

e. aborsani@risd.edu

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The Cloud Chamber, more appropriately named the Wilson Chamber, after its inventor Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, is a particle detector used for detecting ionizing radiation.

In its most basic form, a cloud chamber is a sealed environment containing an extremely saturated vapor of water or alcohol. When a charged particle interacts with the mixture, the fluid is ionized(induced to develop a charge). The resulting ions, or electrically charged particles, act as condensation nuclei, around which a mist will form (because the mixture is on the point of condensation). The high energies of alpha and beta particles(types of charged particles) mean that a trail is left, due to many ions being produced along the path of the charged particle. These tracks have distinctive shapes (for example, an alpha particle's track is broad and shows more evidence of deflection by collisions, while an electron's is thinner and straight). When any uniform magnetic field is applied across the cloud chamber, positively and negatively charged particles will curve in opposite directions.

Cloud chamber in action: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_chamber.ogg

About Ankit Daftery, Daflabs

Ankit is deeply passionate about building objects, tools and systems that improve convenience, value and ease in everyday life. He works on interactive public installations, fun desktop objects and alternative mobile interfaces and teaches electronic prototyping when he is not meeting people over coffee or sprucing up daflabs.com.

e. me@ankitdaf.com

About the Workshop, Reactive Orb

In this hands-on workshop, teenagers learn to make a Reactive Orb: a tap sensitive orb that lights up with a unique colour for each tap. Participants are required to carry a laptop to this workshop.

About the Workshop, Touch Me Not Electronics

A 3-4 hour workshop aimed at teaching kids the building blocks of electronic systems. The kids will be taught about the components of such a system, how to put them together and program them to react to touch. The kids will be taught how to make a flower that reacts with light when touched.

About the Workshop

Who are you?

For millennia philosophers, scientists and yogis have been kicking around the questions of self — not only who we are but why we are. However brilliant the work of the great Masters may appear, we each are traversing a very personal journey, as were they.

Guided by predispositions, personality and ideology, the mind is the non-physical filter though which we analyze and judge the world. But how is this filter constructed; what makes us tick, and what if we want change?

Moving through the progressive examination of these topics and into the meditative recesses of the mind, these sessions are designed, not to bring clarity to the questions, but to illuminate our perception of the answers — your answers.

Day 1: Illuminate the Mind — Who are you?
Day 2: Illuminate the Mind — Why are you?
Day 3: Illuminate the Mind — Where are you?

About the Philosopher

Although Christine has been probing the riddles of origination and purpose for decades, ultimately it was Buddhism and Yoga that flung open the doors to the solution — the mind.

Shifting away from corporate structure in 2011, exploration of the methods leading to inner peace has been a constant source of motivation. Centering mindfulness, meditation, Yoga and Eastern philosophy, developing clarity through the art of self-study has provided the basis for her writing, which may be found at Searching For OM.

e. calexafowle@gmail.com

About the Event

OPTICKS is conceived as a Cosmic Mail Art event, where the digital images – submitted from different locations on Earth - reach the Moon while being altered by its surface and by the long journey. At the end of each 'happening', the moonbounced images are printed as postcards and returned to the original sender with a message by the artist, confirming the effective journey of the image. The noise, the distortion of the colours and shapes is what makes the moonbounced images interesting and evocative of the long journey to the Moon and back.

The radio waves containing the information of the image travel approximately 768.000 Km, thus returning back to Earth much weaker than the original signals. Other causes for the distortion are the poor reflective qualities of the Moon's surface, the Doppler shift and the Lunar Libration. Every OPTICKS event has a component of unpredictability, some technical problems can occur either before or even during the live event. The problems can be caused by high winds or by technical failures at one of the stations. The component of uncertainty however is part of the poetic message of the work, space travel is far from being a flawless journey, space travel by radio waves is no exception.

The title 'OPTICKS', is inspired by the 1704 essay by Isaac Newton on the reflections, refractions, inflections and colours of light. The title aims at suggesting the phenomenon of reflection and refraction of the radio waves caused by the Moon's surface, through a poetic and philosophical link between Moonbounce and the light spectrum.

The moonbounce for The Story of Light took place on 27 January 2015

About the Artist

Daniela de Paulis is a visual artist and lecturer living and working between Italy and The Netherlands. She works with video, installation and performance, showing her work internationally and often collaborating with other artists, scientists and radio amateurs. Since October 2009 she has been the first artist in residence at the Dwingeloo radio telescope (NL). She is currently a PhD student at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, developing her research on Interstellar Transmissions in Live Performance. Since 2010 she has been collaborating with the international collective Astronomers Without Borders (AWB), as the founder and director of the AstroArts programme.

e. selavyrose@gmail.com

About the Installation

Without an observer, there is no observation. Is it that the observation creates the observer or does the observation emanate from the observer?

The nuances of these complexities led to the exploration of quantum physics and eastern mysticism expressed metaphorically through a performative installation, 'To Observe is to Change', offering an understanding of reality in the context of the present moment.

http://spaceiscurvednow.com/2012/06/01/1201/

About the Artist

Deshna is a visual artist with a passion for photography, writing and curation. After having graduated from the Royal College of Art in London, she moved back to India seeking to find meaningfulness and relevance of graphic design to the Indian masses through research, writing and her design practice. She works out of Mumbai and has co-founded a design and publishing initiative: Anugraha which serves as a platform to encourage and undertake collaborative practices in the field of visual art, design and research.

She truly believes that essence of everything tangible lies in the intangible; and that magic resides in the ephemeral, the elusive, the unseen, the emotive, the experiential and the subtle; which is what she aspires to express and experience through her engagement as an artist and co-curator at The Story of Light.
e. anugraha.deshna@gmail.com

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‘…what quantum mechanics says is that nothing is real and that we cannot say anything about what things are doing when we are not looking at them. Nothing is real unless it is observed… and we have to accept that the very act of observing a thing changed it.’
– John Gribbon

‘Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.’
– Lao Tzu

In science, the term observer effect refers to changes that the act of observation will make on a phenomenon being observed. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner. A commonplace example is checking the pressure in an automobile tire; this is difficult to do without letting out some of the air, thus changing the pressure. This effect can be observed in many domains of physics.

For an electron to become detectable, a photon must first interact with it, and this interaction will inevitably change the path of that electron.

In electronics, ammeters and voltmeters are usually wired in series or parallel to the circuit, and so by their very presence affect the current or the voltage they are measuring.

In thermodynamics, a standard mercury-in-glass thermometer must absorb or give up some thermal energy to record a temperature, and therefore changes the temperature of the body which it is measuring.

In quantum mechanics, too, the Observer Effect plays a large role, especially when it comes to measurement. Quantum mechanics claims that nothing is present or real unless it is observed, leading to a collapse of wave function and a subsequent conclusive observation.

About the Installation

Vitiligo (or leucoderma) is an autoimmune skin disorder that causes gradual loss of ‘melanin’- a pigment that gives our skin its colour, resulting in irregular white patches all over the body. It affects about 1-2% of the population worldwide and is perceived to be disfiguring. In India, it is commonly known as ‘kod’ or ‘safed daag’ while the ancient texts refer to it as ‘shweta kushta’ meaning white leprosy. While the condition is not contagious or life threatening, people with Vitiligo have little control over the external appearance of their bodies and it affects them deeply at a psychological level.

The installation titled ‘Variegated’ meaning ‘exhibiting different colours, especially as irregular patches or streaks’ shares the human experience of having Vitiligo while looking at a few similar phenomena in nature. It is an attempt to investigate the sensibilities surrounding our appearances by exploring and expressing who we are and how we see ourselves.

About the Artist

Dhwani Shah is a Graphic Designer and Illustrator from Mumbai. Her key areas of interests include Publication design, Sequential Narratives, Lettering and Typography. She graduated from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
e. dhwani.s12@gmail.com

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Lee Thomas, Anchor/Entertainment Reporter on Fox Detroit and Author of Turning White speaks about Vitiligo at Tedx Detroit.

Supported By

About the Installation

'Light and String' showcases the role of light in building intricate networks in our cosmos:
- The intricate network created by firing neurons and synapses in the human brain
- The intricate network of the internet
- The network of dark matter and matter in the cosmos.

We all are connected to everything else, in ways that we could not have imagined. Using this installation the artists intend to showcase these connections. The installation encourages visitors to add additional strings when navigating the existing space. Each string then signifies one’s own timeline and by drawing their own string across the space however they chose, visitors leave a mark in this space, just as they do in the Universe.

About the Artists

Dilnaaz believes in experiencing the numerous hues of life and it's kaleidoscopic patterns, with imagination and creativity. She seeks to infuse her sense of aesthetic, emotion and vibrancy in her imagery and art. She looks at the world as an infinite source of inspiration. Her art seeks to reveal the synergy between man, nature and the universe.

Experimentation and collaboration are what Shrini believes in. The point of intersection of various media, as with people, is his cauldron of inspiration. He is a Designer, Thinker and traveller with a bias towards the mountains and wilderness.

e. lightandstring@gmail.com

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The Human Brain: Each time information is assimilated and processed and passed on through the firing neurons and synapses, energy is created and realised. When we study the brain using our instruments the the neurons look like pulses of light. According to a recent study, the human brain can be visualised as a complex interacting network that relies on nodes to efficiently convey information from place to place. Not unlike how the internet currently works.

The Internet: With the advancement of technology, a huge amount of information is traveling from one place to another largely through fibre optic cables that use light as a means of transmitting data. The Internet, and the intricate network it creates throughout the world, is one of the most advanced technological systems in the world.While it might currently sound farfetched, there are some who believe the internet is poised to become the Global Brain. See the Global Brain Initiative.

Dark Matter: The findings of Richard Massey and Nick Scoville have allowed us to create a 3D map of the large scale distribution of a section of the observable space. The map provides the best evidence yet that normal matter, largely in the form of galaxies, accumulates along the densest concentrations of dark matter. The map reveals a loose network of filaments that grew over time and intersect in massive structures at the locations of clusters of galaxies.

UC San Diego News Center describes how Dmitri Krioukov et al. have discovered that the cosmos and the galaxies within it grow much like the network of neurons in the brain or complex networks like the internet.  This may not be visually evident as most of the “scaffolding” on which matter clusters around is made of “Dark Matter”

About the Performance

Flames will be bringing forth two performances of fire and light spinning and juggling. Discoveries of Fire: Our Story begins with the discovery of fire by man. He starts to play with it, its power, and grows in courage as he makes use of it. Then steady fire, flameless, multicoloured, cold fire appears. It is the conversion to modernity, electricity, industrialism, growing uniformity. But something has been lost, the life that created that primeval fire... As cold fire, begins to flicker off, a new flame appears: it is the rediscovery of the innocent flame, the child's soul within. The Fires are lit once more and brought to life.

And there was Light is a fable of evolution. Blending myth with science, tells a story of the Creation of our Universe: At first there was nothing perhaps or everything all in One. From that void, that vacancy a wish emerged, a desire to manifest, to play, an aching urge to create, and revel in the creation. The intent grew for the All desired to know itself in all its forms. An explosion of Light, of Life appeared; chaotic, warlike, too powerful and ravenous, it spun, it grew, it devoured and it fell. From the ashes of the first universe was born a second, ordered and precise, perfect as a crystal, cold as a diamond. It could not grow. From its coldness withered and it too perished.

From spacelessness and timelessness, a universe rose once more. This time combining Life and Law, in a single whole: Elements dance and stars are formed, sparkling across the empty sky. Planets gather around the brightness of a sun. Matter organises itself, Life grows, and Mind descends and begins to settle. The time of man has come. He thrives a while, and then... what next?

About the Artist

FLAMES is a group of young fire spinners, jugglers and breathers from Auroville, Tamil Nadu. The ten teenage performers, write and choreograph all their performances since 2013. The group is mentored Aurevan, a child of Auroville, a growing storyteller. It is accompanied by a DJ, brimming with joy and laughter. Very different from eachother, the group is brought together and bound by the love of FIRE:

To begin to meet them, below are a few of their words:
- “I like working with fire because it makes me feel big and strong but at the same time it makes me feel free, open and happy.”
- “I started fire juggling four or five years back... It was at that time a sport for me, slowly we began growing as a group and put together a small performance, there was a new me I found that day. The experience was unique, for fire had become my friend, myself.”
- “Each time I light my stick and it slowly lights into a big flame, I feel accomplished. It is as if fire completes my being. It is a joy that one cannot get by simply staring at a candle, but it is when you control fire's movements that it controls your heart. The warmth is not just physical, but it fills your body from the inside too. For that feeling of being a part of the flame, I would give anything for it.”
- “This long time of being with fire seems short. It has still not taught me all of its magic, but enough to be its disciple.”
- “Fire is a brush, you the hand, paint on the surface of the earth, all you need is your heart.”

e. aurevan@auroville.org.in

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Fire is a vibrant form of light. It has been a great tool in building early society. But what exactly is fire?

About the Installation

Starstomp is an immersive interactive audiovisual environment that takes you into the stars. The audience is invited into a space where their every movement generates light and sound, creating a dreamscape of our cosmos.

About the Artists

Gene Kogan is an artist and programmer based in New York City. He writes software for the performing arts and researches the application of emerging technology for creative expression across a variety of contexts including live music, theatre, and dance.
e. kogan.gene@gmail.com

Alec Schachner is an experimental multi-genre musician, performance artist, and independent researcher and translator. He currently resides in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he has been living and working for the past five and a half years.
e. ags2110@gmail.com

About the Installation

The process of visual perception is most often taken for granted — we use our eyes and brains to make sense of the world as naturally as we use our lungs to breathe. But behind the scenes, our bodies and minds are performing an intricate and complex series of tasks, taking in light as input, translating that input to meaning based on our physiology and experience, and making conscious or unconscious decisions about how to act on the received information.

Talking is an interactive installation that aims to open a window onto this fascinating process, allowing visitors to learn about and experiment with concepts of perception. We isolate three conceptual stages of the human perceptual process — Sensing, Interpreting, and Reacting — and model each stage in a pair of simple computing devices that communicate solely via the visual sense. At each of the three stations, audience members will view and interact with a simple conversation that illustrates one of the isolated stages.

About the Artist

Ishac Bertran is a designer and artist from Barcelona, currently living in New York. His work revolves around the relationship between people and technology. As a designer, Ishac specializes in envisioning and prototyping future scenarios that often involve emerging technologies. Through art he investigates the aesthetics of nature, physics and computation. In the recent years he invented a tool for children to create stop-motion animation, experimented with combinations of digital and analog photography and published a poetry book written with code.
e. ishacbertran@gmail.com

Jonathan Wohl is an artist and programmer from Wisconsin, currently living in New York City. With a varied background in woodworking, music and sound design, and the natural sciences, his work has taken many forms, often combining familiar materials with new technologies. He has built musical instruments and gas-powered sculptures, collaborated with dancers and filmmakers, and created politically-themed video games. Jonathan is a founding member of The Notion Collective, a group of collaborating artists based in Brooklyn, NY, and is currently working with the Sustainable Engineering Lab at Columbia University.
e. jon@jonwohl.com

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“... that’s why we have a brain, is to predict the future, to anticipate the consequences of our actions and inactions ...” - Ray Kurzweil

What does it mean to “see?” Clearly it is more than simply light at work; a stone may receive the same light as our eye, but we do not say that the stone “sees”. To see implies not only the sensing of light, but the interpretation of that light into meaning, and ultimately the triggering of a reaction — in short, the act of seeing implies a conscious observer.

With the rapid advancement of computational power, basic yet powerful forms of intelligence are becoming commonplace — speech recognition and face detection systems are now built into inexpensive smart phones, for example. These systems are designed after our minds, sensing input and detecting patterns, making predictions based on the patterns they’ve deciphered, and acting on these predictions. As our understanding of our own brains’ “thinking mechanism” improves, so too will our ability to replicate its function in computers. And as our machines evolve to encompass a greater capacity for thinking, so too will our philosophical understanding of what it means to see, to be conscious.

About the Installation

The World's largest cyanotype was created during the festival with participants lying atop the print. Through this project, the artists explored the beauty of creating visual poetry with light and dwelled upon humanity’s relationship with the universe.

About the Artists

Jaden Hastings' work is primarily focused upon the intersection and interplay of art and science philosophically, as well as practically, combining scientific and artistic research into a single practice. She is an alumna of New York University, Harvard University and the University of Oxford (New College) with advanced degrees in both Biology and Bioinformatics, respectively. In 2014, J.J. completed the MA (Fine Art) in Art & Science at Central Saint Martins in London. Ms. Hastings’ work is exhibited at public-facing venues such as the Science Museum in London and the London Science Festival, as well as notable galleries in the UK and USA.
e. casseopeia7@gmail.com

Melanie King is primarily an artist whose research is heavily influenced by scientific theory. She is an alumna of Central Saint Martins in Fine Art (MA Art & Science) and Leeds College of Art (BA Fine Art). Melanie regularly curates and organises events around London on the subjects of astronomy and analogue photography. Her work has been exhibited widely, including the Edinburgh Science Festival and Manchester Science Festival, has participated in various artist residencies internationally, and has taught numerous alternative photography workshops around the UK.
e. melaniekk88@gmail.com

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The word ‘blueprint’ is overused today, but it’s etymology is sadly unknown. The original blueprint is the cyanotype, a photograph made by a 170 year old photographic printing process that produces the prints in a distinctive dark greenish blue. The word Cyan comes from Greek, meaning ‘dark blue substance’.

The process was invented by Sir John Herschel, a brilliant astronomer and scientist, in 1842, after which a family friend of his, a botanist named Anna Atkins used the cyanotype printing process in 1843 to create an album of algae specimens.

With their luscious, dreamy blue tint, these hauntingly beautiful prints are relatively easy to make and quite inexpensive, needing little equipment.

About the Installation

Heisenberg’s Microscope is an installation that inquires about the complexity of the nature of matter through a game of chess. Quantum mechanics talks in the language of probability or chance, and Heisenberg’s principle of uncertainty professes the existence of this ambiguity as an inherent part of nature itself. But how does this uncertainty matter?

Chess, a game that faithfully mirrors life, has three fixed outcomes - win, lose or a draw. But within these seemingly pre-determined outcomes, the chess pieces move in a unique way. In fact, the estimated total number of unique chess games that can be played is 10^120, while the estimated total number of atoms in the universe is only 10^81. While playing a game of chess, you and your opponent collectively choose one unique event from 10^120 others. In this installation, a complete game of chess is observed and recorded in a single image using light as a medium. This parallel between possibilities in chess and probability in matter is what this work aims to exploit, and in the process, it gives the view a peek into the colossal complexity of the universe.

About the Artists

Kaushal Sapre is an artist based in Goa. He holds a masters in physics and a bachelors in chemical engineering from BITS Pilani Goa Campus. His background in science and technology offers him a unique point of view in dealing with art.
e. kaushalsapre@gmail.com

Midhun Mohan is an artist and an animator. Midhun works in diverse media, from ink on paper to new media, digital and animation. His recent work is being shown in ‘Janela’, a collateral exhibition with the Kochi Muzuris Biennale.
e. animid85@gmail.com

Midhun and Kaushal share a studio in Panjim, Goa.

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The uncertainty principle and its repercussions sparked a massive debate on the philosophy of physics and matter, between the Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, the two stalwarts of modern physics. The idea that nature has an inherent element of uncertainty was not palatable to Einstein, who described it with the now famous words - ‘God does not play dice with the universe.’ Bohr and Einstein remained at an intellectual deadlock for the rest of their lives. At the same time, they greatly respected and admired each other. Bohr wrote an account of his debates with Einstein in ‘Discussions with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics’. It is a marvellous read that opens one’s eyes to the ramifications of uncertainty.

And here's a fun video on philosophy and physics.

About the Installation

'Story of Light: A Spectacle' creates a sublime experience at the interface of art, science and the story of light in the context of human civilization. The public installation is a live kaleidoscope that people will walk into to experience the story of light from the perspective of the human civilization. The story will be told from the anthropological perspective of the story of humans, their celebrations, rituals and practices, habits and habitats, folklore etc.

The exhibit will engage and enthral the audience apart from creating an understanding of how the spectacle of human civilization has moved in space-time constructs. The public installation will be put in place using black lights and glow in the dark pigments. As the audience walks through the spectacle of the kaleidoscope, they form a connection between science, social issues, culture and life.

About the Artist

Madhulika is the founder and president of Adhya Educational Society, a non-profit engaged in developing innovative pedagogy. She has a PhD in Molecular and Environmental Plant Science followed by a Master’s with triple emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction, Social and Leadership development from Texas A &M University, College Station, Texas. Her innovation in English learning using local language, culture and way of life has been listed among top 10 innovations in Asia and Africa in Secondary Education (Results for Development Institute, Washington D.C., supported by Rockefeller Foundation). Madhu has been a TEDx IIM Ranchi speaker on “Teaching with a difference" and TEDx IIT BHU speaker on “Arts based learning". Madhu has designed and implemented Science education programs for 25,000 children in Hyderabad integrating arts based learning with Science and Mathematics.  The focus of her innovation is on the importance of education for human development with perspectives on transforming self, ideas and surroundings, and creating interdependence through an understanding of the connected world using Arts based learning.
e. madhu@adhya.org

At The Story of Light Festival, Madhulika also conducted a workshop on "Using Art in Science Education" for about 30 local teachers.

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Across cultures, right from the dawn of human sentience, we have been fascinated and awed by light. It has fuelled our evolutionary process and plays a huge role in our visual perception. This four part series by the BBC sheds some light on the matter:

About the Installation

“As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust and as the embryo is covered by the womb, so knowledge (edam) is covered by [desire] (kāma).” (Bhagavad Gita 3.38)

How can we perceive the unchanging in a world of changing forms?

This is the central problem addressed in the Bhagavad Gita, the most widely revered of Indian scriptures. The Gita elaborates a philosophy of advaita (“non-duality”) that unites all observable phenomena as an elaborate dance of forms and qualities supported by an unchanging substrate.

As in the shloka above, the Gita sets metaphors against one another to create an elaborate pattern of interference and superposition.

Light is often described as having a dual nature.

Sometimes it behaves as tiny packets of energy, which we call photons. At other times it behaves like a wave, whose vibration can be subtracted from itself (as in noise-cancelling headphones). These two ways of talking about light are are convenient when making certain kinds of calculations.

But these descriptions obscure something more fundamental: light is both, which is to say that it is neither. It is one.

Non-Duality lets visitors explore light’s wave nature through play. Spin its wheels to create a dazzling array of colourful laser patterns. A chamber filled with diffracted beams captures the variety and multiplicity of light’s manifestations—interfering and superimposing like the Gita’s metaphors—while hinting at its underlying unity.

(Please supervise children < 4 ft / 120 cm.)

About the Artist

Matt is a graphic designer, storyteller, teacher, writer, and mapmaker based in Mumbai. He runs the studio HNH!digital along with students from local community centres trained with a unique DTP curriculum. He studied physics and analytic philosophy at Harvard and vedanta in a Chinmaya Satsang.

e. matt@hnhdigital.com

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Imagine a tennis ball that would be in several different places at the same time. But when you try to locate it with measuring instruments, the quantum object is suddenly reduced to one spot. This means that electrons, atoms, molecules, and even photons (light particles), are small particles and waves, both at the same time! This is the basic property of the quantum world. This great site explains it.

About the Performance

A Classical Indian Dance Performance: Movement Ignites!

The light deep inside the human body is explored through the medium of classical Indian dance,  resulting in a journey through movement; expanding, exploring and experiencing that, which is Within & Without. The dance expression is through the medium of Mohini Attam.

(Classical Dance form from Kerala – Southern India). It will take place on 18th January 2015 at Sunset at Miramar Beach.

About the Artist

Miti Desai is a designer & dancer. Communication through the external medium of design led Miti to an internal expression of body design, rediscovering Classical Indian Dance. Indian Dance has been the key to her return to her cultural roots, symbols and world-view resulting in an innate understanding of culture and aesthetics and its influence and inspiration in DESIGN & in the becoming of a DESIGNER.

Miti is the founder and creative Head of Miti Design Lab, an interdisciplinary design space. Miti Design lab exists as an Intellectual and Physical Space engaging in different Dimensions. Communication Design, Education Design, Movement Design, Business Design, Social Design, and then the formless - Thought Design - are the dimensions in which MDL dwells in. These are parts of a whole manifesting in different forms, all dependent, interdependent and independent at once. For Miti, through all of the above, the constant strive is to engage in bringing the sense of design into ones own body and life on the one hand, and towards extending it to the environment and society on the other.

e. miti@mitidesignlab.com

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Classical Indian dance at once engages in philosophy,spirituality and aesthetics. It by itself is devised and designed in a way that it facilitates an inward journey and the practice of it gives immense energy, penetrating into the inner light.

About MOHINATTAM: There are seven different classical dance styles that the Indian tradition offers. Each one comes from a different state in India, with a different geometry of movement, costume, jewelry and even music; yet the principles and values are the same in all. Mohiniattam is one such form. It is a gentle and lyrical classical dance style from Kerala. Its swinging and swaying movements are reminiscent of the swaying palm trees and the undulating backwaters of Kerala. Its rich mimetic technique beautifully offsets its simple pure dance movements. Together they create a dance that enchants.

About the Talk

This talk (and DIY workshop) will explore the hidden world of shadows and its important for the understanding of our universe. In this unique talk we will explore sizes, shapes, distances and the the structure of our own Cosmos while combining science, history and anthropology.

About the Scientist / Educator

Pedro Russo is presently the International Project Manager of Universe Awareness educational programme. He is passionately committed to using astronomy as an educational tool. Pedro is Chair of the Schools and Children Task Force of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Astronomy for Development programme and Vice President of Commission Communicating Astronomy with the Public of the International Astronomical Union. Until 2010 he was the global coordinator for the largest network ever in Science Outreach, the International Year of Astronomy 2009. Pedro coordinated the planning, implementation, execution and evaluation of the global IYA2009 activities, projects and events. He was also responsible for the communication between the thousands of stakeholders of the project, including projects and national chairs, astronomy community, media and society with respect to all global IYA2009 issues.
e. russo@strw.leidenuniv.nl

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About the Installation

Light Years looks at modern memory by artificially fossilizing artefacts in a kinetic sculpture curated by light. The curation process uses natural light to solidify light-sensitive resin, directed to the sculpture using mirrors. The work invokes in form and process the dual nature of lights as we understand it – one which we make, the artificial, and the other which makes everything around us.

About the Artists

The Center for Experimental Media Arts (CEMA) program at Srishti offers a stimulating environment where practices often dialogue across disciplines. Through tutorials, group discussions, symposiums, exhibitions and workshops the EMA students are expected to engage in exchange of ideas and skills with a wider community of practitioners.

Sruti and Punith are students at CEMA.

e. sruti.visweswaran@gmail.com, punith.on@gmail.com

About the Installation

Since the first radio broadcast in the 1890s, human broadcast signals have been escaping the Earth, traveling at the speed of light out into interstellar space. All broadcasting equipment is based on the use of different types of light, producing different frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum. These light waves exist throughout the known universe but here on Earth, we utilize them in the transmission of data most commonly in the form of Radio and Television.

Each person will experience the installation by climbing atop a pyramid and viewing a short film entombed within the structure. The film is a collection of footage that the artists have curated based on the progression of broadcast technology and our worldwide and personal utilization of these tools. The significance of the pyramid is drawn from the fact that the signals we transmit will outlive all of us; the creators of the content, and may possibly be the last remaining artifact of our existence.

Cosmic Fingerprint is a visual representation of light signals, and to help the viewer rethink and answer the question: What would we think if our only glimpse into human life on Earth is based on the content of Radio and Television broadcasts?

Cosmic Fingerprint Teaser Trailer

About the Artists

Rafi is a filmmaker who has a passion for design-- from film sets to public spaces, installation art, Earthships, graphic art and even characters for an animated show. She is fascinated with utilizing the language of cinema in the creation of things that do not exist in the world, and to show the viewer different ways to see, ways to think and ways to experience the spaces we inhabit.

e. el.rafaella@gmail.com

Dan Scotti is a film & video producer, with experience in all key stages of production. He specialises in cinematography and editing, and a solid foundation in all aspects of the filmmaking process. With an emphasis on professional level practice and implementation of advanced film theory, he tells stories with a unique and dynamic viewing experience.

e. scotti.danielj@gmail.com

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About the Installation

Using a simple feedback loop with projection and cameras, this audiovisual installation allows you to look within yourself, infinitely. Metaphysically speaking, the concept of this installation  is to depict through the use of light, the relationship between cause and effect as a universal law. Everything generated by the installation follows the law of fractal or ‘sacred’ geometry in varying permutations. The aim of this collaboration is to allow for the viewer to experience a connection between those two laws through a tangible, visible and repercussive view of their actions. Thematically, the installation aims to focus on interactive or participatory stimulus which is created by the viewers in conjunction with the setup to demonstrate infinite repercussions in the form of the resultant fractal imagery. In addition, a sonic layer of input interpreted in visual signals, acts as the primary enzyme in creating these complex geometric patterns.

With this tangible and playful demonstration of the cause-effect relationship, Infinity aims to draw individuals to focus on their potential as creators of their own existences, and challenges them to adopt a view of themselves as limitless, infinite, light-beings - on the leading edge of creation and thus continuously contributing to the constant expansion of the universe.

About the Artists

Sachin Pillai’s films are best described as fragile in terms of shot taking as he likes to look for moments that punctuate states of the mind in cinematic form, frequently interspersing graphics with live action, always derived from reality. He has been visually exploring forms other than cinema which are either self generative or reflections of micro and macrocosms as the underlying themes for his current work. He is a creator to watch out for, but what’s truly unique about his work is the way it presents a bustling urban Indian cultural space. Pillai’s interpretations are devoid of clichés and stray away from the overwrought, exoticised ‘Indian’ imagery that we’re so used to seeing. What he presents, and represents, is a real, contemporary modern condition, normally ignored by mainstream Indian media. To put it simply, his work is a symptom of an evolving, exciting future in contemporary Indian culture.

e. pillai.s.sachin@gmail.com

Nikunj Patel is a graphic and motion designer, who studied Animation at the National Institute of Design (NID). Nikunj has been creating art for the indie music space in India for the last year and a half. As someone who dabbles in music production himself, his aesthetic and aural sensibilities link closely together allowing for seamless representations that are tastefully, contextually and artistically put together.

e. nikunj2799@gmail.com

About the Installation

'Traffic' captures human orchestrations occurring in the spectrum of invisible light, intercepting maritime and air-traffic broadcasts as a sound installation along with a visualization of air traffic entering Goan airspace, by decoding aircraft wireless transponder data in realtime.

Traffic explores the politics of invisible light in the electromagnetic radio frequency spectrum. It is part of an on-going project, Rain Boron, that draws parallels between time synchronized & orchestrated modes of wireless transmissions
employed by the human species using the medium of invisible light & that of natural occurring transmissions of celestial events.

About the Artist

Sharath graduated from the University of Edinburgh specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Virtual Environments. He is Faculty at The Centre for Experimental Media Arts, at the Srishti School of Art Design and Technology where he extends his practice and teaching in the fields of Transmission Art, Information Sciences, Network Cultures, Multimodal Cognition and Interaction Design. He also engages with the opensource community at the Centre for Intenet and Society where he explores Open Spectrum , Open Hardware and Open Science with research interests in ICT4D, Telecom Policy, Cyber Security and Intellectual Property Law.
e. looplogic@gmail.com

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About the Installation

Walk into a tunnel with red, blue and green lights to play with your shadow. What colour do you think it would be? Many Colours:One World celebrates both the unity and plurality of the world and can be interpreted at different levels.

About the Artist

Subodh Kerkar is an installation artist based in Goa. His work has been exhibited all over the world in prestigious places such as Saachi gallery, London; Canvas International Art festival, Amsterdam; Zitadel Spandau, Berlin; Jam Jar Gallery, Dubai and Kronen Gallery, Zurich.
e. kerkarart@gmail.com

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About the Workshop

"A Clockwork Blues” is an experimental storytelling project which cultivates light to bring life to a paper theatre book.

As we enter, the room is dark. The book opens by itself, revealing the first tableau of pop-ups gears, made from layered paper cut-outs. Then, the light runs on the paper, textures the shapes, fixes the décor. Tiny characters enter the scene, explore the gears. Now bright enough, the glowing sculpture blinks along the music, runs on the walls into organic spirals, bounces across space to caress the shadows of the audience...

This is the time to gather, to explore through the evening and the night, how to light a story… a Story of Light. In this workshop, we offer a participative experience across the fields of science, art, design and technology; with the purpose to create, share, and hybridise stories made of and about Light. The art process is illustrated with demonstrations and performances. It is open to all (ages 12+). Three activities run together during the workshop:
- Preparation of a 3D sculpture with Paper Art (Exploring Origami and Kirigami - working towards the Pop-Up Book).
- Projection Mapping on the 3D sculptures and VJing (how to create, apply and control a light design in real-time on a volume).
- Video Feedback (how to create an interactive light installation with video, and to perform with the light entity generated).
The result is a multi-modal art installation; which is intuitive, accessible, and reactive to its participants and environment.The Clockwork Blues Project regroups these different components and introduces the workshop as an open narrative system.

About the Artists

Samvida Nanda [born in 1989, India]. Samvida has dabbled in many mediums…oils, acrylics, water-colours…but her favourite kind of painting, is with light. She graduated from Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology (Bangalore, India) in 2011. There, after a 2-year foundation study in design, she specialised in Digital Video Production. In 2013, she completed a Short Summer Filmmaking Workshop at FAMU (Prague, Czech Republic).

She is currently working in Bombay, with Dev Benegal on his next feature film. Amongst other things, she loves cinematography, travelling, impressionist art, making origami birds, writing screenplays, and writing about herself in the third person.

e. samvida@gmail.com

Viktor Furiani [born in 1982, France]. Viktor is a Light Designer, Video Performer and Scenographer grown in Lyon, the very heart of cinematography and light design. Alongside studies in history, anthropology and sociology, he spends countless hours in photographic labs.

After several exhibitions, Viktor starts to animate the pictures. In the years following the new millennium, they become video. Most of the time projected. Most of the time interpreted in live, on a music performance, for a dance, for a tree, for a castle, for a cloud or a string of rain. Pictures and footage cover the subjects, become tinier and tinier, closer and closer to an organic skin made of light.

This medium, crossover of art installation and video performance, sometimes referred to as VJing or Visual-Jocking, allows Viktor to travel (a lot, and in adventurous conditions). In Europe, and in India, a backpack stuffed with several projectors and cameras becomes the daily load, and the pretext, to savour encounters, and cultural exchanges of visions and practices.

Lost (and found) at a camp in the middle of the Thar desert… Lost (and found) in the National Bank of Belgium… Lost (and found) in an underground bunker in East-Berlin… Lost (and found) at a fashion show in a luxury hotel in Mumbai… Lost (and found) at the stage of Norway's National Opera, then Lost (and found) in a field, far between rocks and sky.

In parallel with his artistic practises, Viktor organises workshops, art residencies, VJ-camps, courses (video performances and installation, scenography, light design, art process).

e. viktor.furiani@gmail.com