A few weeks ago, I learned about a nighttime walking light tour called Astra Lumina that was going to be coming to Seattle, because nothing seems to come to Portland, even though we have spaces for them. I was going to purchase tickets for next month, but then decided to look at the other cities it was going to.
It seemed like kismet that the event was currently on display in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, just a 10 minute drive from where we're staying outside of Pigeon Forge to visit Dollywood, so I booked a pair of tickets and admission to the adventure park hosting it, which I can't review, because we dawdled too much driving from Nashville and showed up 30 minutes before the park closed, just in time to take the lift to the top of the mountain and show up for our Astra Lumina time slot. It was still more convenient and cheaper than a separate trip to Seattle.
So, what is Astra Lumina? It's an interactive, multi-sensory light installation that you walk through. It has 10 stops along the route, including a "photo booth" at the end, with different cosmic vignettes that all follow a story that consist of stars and space and planets. It takes about an hour to experience, even if you stay at stops longer than expected.
Each stop has a theme and you'll see a lighted sign before you get to them with the name of it and the time each experience lasts. The lights are all different and has music that goes along with them. Each musical accompaniment is soft and ethereal and different, but also very similar, but it's perfect and really brings you into the story.
The walk up to the entrance of Astra Lumina is lined with lanterns that have astronomy patterns and a piece of the prologue to the experience. The mood is perfectly set by the time you arrive, and then you enter a cosmic archway into the Astra Lumina space and witness falling stars, that then serenade you.
You walk through starlight, and I'm pretty sure this is everyone's favorite part, because it's like you're underwater, but also in space, and like a very gentle rave. You feel like you are walking through e most beautiful spiderwebs that never touch you. I loved it and we all just stood, staring around us in wonder, like we'd never seen light beams before. The way it's done is so magical and impossible to describe or capture on film, though I tried.
At one point, you are there to see a star being born, and ascend into the cosmos, and accepted by the other stars up there. There's a literal wave of light, the fallen stars return to the skies, and your are in a forest carpeted with dancing light. If you've been following me here and on IG, you know I enjoy light installations and interactive art and this one went beyond my expectations and imagination. I was emotional at times and completely in awe.
Everything is centered on where you are. There's just enough light on the trail for you to keep your footing and follow it to the next stop, almost like they don't want you to see anything outside of the path in between stops, and it is pretty impactful and mesmerizing.
It's not often I'm speechless, but this got me. You can spend as much or as little time as you like on the trail, so if you find you've entered in the middle of an experience, then make sure you wait around for it to start again to see an entire rotation. You'll know when it's over without timing it. It's very obvious.
Wear good walking shoes and dress warmly, if it's cooler out. Take a lot of pictures, or don't. It's okay to just enjoy the experience. The photo op at the end is unmanned, so be cool and offer to take photos (yes, more than one) for people ahead or behind you, so they can also have a great photo memory.
Do you have a must-see light experience or interactive art exhibit to share?
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