The many shades of Holi

Students from four universities in Dubai went RGB crazy in their attempt to express the exuberance of the springtime Indian Festival Holi through light at the recently concluded student event Light.ication at Light ME. Organized by the very enthusiastic Light.Func team, who were instrumental in ensuring the event was a smooth real-time learning experience for the participating student teams.

Creation assisted three teams, two from American University of Dubai and one from Manipal University to bring their concepts to life. As sponsors, we supplied light control systems used on projects, and taught the multi-disciplinarian teams how to attune their projects to the finer nuances of light control. Each of the teams was mentored by a leading light design consultant from Dubai.

Dubai based Independent lighting consultant and designer Nathan Savage, is no stranger to mentoring teams for Light ME contests. This year, he stood behind the Manipal University team that comprised six students, three each from architecture and Interior design. “They came up with three concepts and it was important to get them to agree on a single concept early on. The idea was to take a step backward and steer the students in the right direction. They had a great idea and a powerful storyboard. Since the judges gauge on the basis of a strong narrative and visual impression, the orchestration of the lights was critical. A little input towards sourcing the RGB node lighting from Osram Traxon put them on their feet.”

“Last year, students were only able to work on a real low tech solution- it was just plain white light with no controls. This year it has been great that Creation got involved and helped students go all out with controls. The end result is a storyline that has lights changing from dim warm white to cool warm white until it explodes into dynamic colour. We pulled the entire thing together in three weeks. They have done very well,” he concludes.

The Manipal team’s narrative threw light on the scourge of depression. You enter a dark space. Set to music, a dim warm light reveals a crouching dark human cutout. Successively two silhouettes with backlights reveal a figure rising from crouching to half standing, and finally full standing. The first fully crouching represents a depressed person, his shrunken posture speaking for his state of mind as he is assailed by negative emotions and self-doubt. However, the situation is not irreparable. A few motivational words are enough to rupture his shell of gloom and despair and gradually the figure rises infused with hope until he is fully transformed into a state filled with complete dynamism and positivity.

As mentor, Lighting Designer Heba Fahmy’s biggest test was to keep the AUD team grounded. “Their ideas were very extravagant and getting them down to a practical level was a challenge. But my team was undoubtedly the best. They were full of original ideas, were driven and had a unique approach.”

“However, one cannot over-emphasise the role of the team from Creation in helping them go from concept to reality. Their professionalism and experience opened a whole new door of possibilities for us with lighting controls. It was new ground for all of us to learn the many ways we could manipulate light to achieve a set objective.”
 
“I grew up amongst Indians and I saw how they celebrated Holi at home. I saw, how each member of the family had a unique personal relationship with the festival. And so, there was also this intimate side of this colourful festival which is what the team tried to bring out. You look at the entire relationship through a window frame which is lit from behind. The white light almost in a theatrical way creates an intimacy between you and the project compelling you to look into the frame of life,” says Heba.

This first team from AUD set out to work on an esoteric concept that represents abstract words like -Dynamic, Lights, Spiritual, Journey, Explosion and Resurrection. “We brought these words to life through our installation highlighting the contrast between dull and bright,” explains a team rep.

“Even as Holi symbolizes the inner light that protects one from spiritual darkness, we wanted light to guide the viewer through a single frame in a simple series of stages that would tell our story. Light is the medium which allows us to see life as it unfolds so we called our project The Frame of Life,” he continues.

He explains that the idea was to create a theatre like experience that is personal. An ornately carved, brightly painted frame outlines an installation which has a water tank into which colourful ink in injected at routine intervals. Above the tank hangs an inverted Lotus- a symbol of purity and resurrection.

The second team from AUD received their expert advice from Dpa Lighting Consultants. The mentor team was led by Louise Santiago and her team of new designers Chetna Misra, and Harshita Shetty. “We didn’t join last year because we were busy. But this year the opportunity arose once more and since I am already into mentoring we took it up. I asked my two new designers to join me. Let me say it’s not easy to guide a team of six. Getting them to zoom into one concept is an achievement in itself.”

“The installation is very simple. We wanted a static image to become dynamic by using colour and light. We wanted the images to pop off the walls. So, it’s a straightforward installation but when you think of it, you are compelled to ask yourself which is the colour I see, the one that is flashed upon the static image or the one reflected back at me,” says Louise.

Turkish lighting brand Lamp83 has bagged first place in a competition themed “Use energy efficiently and Save the environment” organized for the first time by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI). Lamp83’s spotlights rated A+++ were given the ‘ISO Energy Efficiency Award’, by Minister of Energy and Natural Sources, Dr. Berat Albayrak.
 
The contest saw 50 companies participating with various projects and products from a whole host of different categories. A jury comprising ICI members and senior academicians gauged the entries on the basis of energy efficiency, innovation and indigenousness.

Creation is the exclusive distributor for Lamp83 in the UAE.