Learn the story of the stars with Celestial Bodies, a new urban projection project in downtown Kelowna.
“It was really about bringing light into the darkness and these projections light up the building,” said Kirsteen McCulloch, Arts Council of Central Okanagan executive director.
“It makes a hugely important statement to bring this kind of calibre of artwork into Kelowna.”
The multicultural urban projection is the series to be showcased at the Rotary Centre for the Arts this year. Celestial Bodies is a multicultural creation of animated media that depicts ancient astrological stories.
The artists are sharing four stories of the night sky from different cultures; the Big Dipper story from the Haudenosaunee Nation, the Chinese story of Weaver Woman, a Greek story highlighting the mythology of human desires and emotions through heroes and Gods and an African story called ‘Why the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars live in the Sky?’ according to a press release.
“There’s a number of different components to it. One of them is the production of the animation and sound design,” said Miles Thorogood, an assistant professor at UBC Okanagan.
“Each movement of the digital puppetry and the animations are all carefully considered within the context of the design framework.”
After four years of perfecting the piece with their students, Thorogood and Aleksandra Dulic are ready to share it with the public.
“One can imagine all of the different stories that come from the skies,” said Dulic, associate professor at UBC Okanagan. “Each one carries some of sort of different but significant cultural importance.”
The art installation is a partnership between the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan and UBC Okanagan.
“Art is part of our everyday existence and sometimes we forget that,” said Bryce Traister, Dean of Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan.
“One of the things we like about this partnership and this installation is that we kind of get in people’s faces a little bit. We put it in front of them as they walk by we want art to be an active part of people’s experience living in this city.”
The Celestial Bodies urban projection can be seen at night at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna until Feb. 28 from 5:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. nightly.