Kalpaneya Yatre 2010

Kalpaneya Yatre 2010 is a first-of-its-kind ten-day astronomy festival for lay audiences, taking place on the grounds of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bangalore, during November 26 – December 5, 2010.

Astronomy-based exhibits and models, sky watching, interactive experiments, activity corners, face-to-face interactions with astrophysicists, lectures, films, and art activities by children are among the offerings. The exhibition is in Kannada and English. The festival is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Bangalore

Association for Science Education, Srishti School of Art, Design and Techonolgy, Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Indian Space Research Organisation, and Raman Research Institute.

website: kalpaneyayatre.org

The lectures, theatre, film and art events are listed below.

Events at Kalpaneya Yatre:

===================== Public Lectures ========================

26 Nov Yaaminiya Yaatrikaru 3:30pm Vishwanath Palahalli (IIA)

28 Nov Cauldrons of Creation: How Stars Live and die 3:00pm Firoza Sutaria (IIA)

29 Nov Time for a Change: Astronomy & the Indian Calendar 4:00pm TV Venkateswaran (Vigyan Prasar)

30 Nov Stories of Chandrayan 4:00pm Shivakumar (ISTRAC)

1 Dec Planets Across the Universe: the Inhospitable & the Habitable? 3:30pm Rathnasree Nandivada (Delhi Planetarium)

2 Dec The Violent Universe 3:30pm Biman Nath (RRI)

3 Dec The Mysterious Universe 3:30pm G Srinivasan

4 Dec Hrithik, 8-legged Freaks from Space, and Us: The Search for Life in the Cosmos 3:30pm Jayant Murthy (IIA)

==============Art and Astronomy =====================

CHINNARA CHANDRAYANA & SATELLITE STORIES by children

AWE AND WONDER: An evening with artists and astronomers

27th November 5.30 - 7.30 pm

Artist Rohini Devasher and amateur astronomer Naveen Nanjundappa will

share their work.

Rohini is an artist from Delhi who has exhibited throughout India and internationally. Fascinated by science fiction, she has created a body of work using print media and drawing evoking the bizarre possibilities of life forms based on her research into organic growth patterns. However, about a year ago she made a brave shift in her practice. An

amateur astronomer herself, she decided to investigate her own and other people's fascination with the night sky. She will present her research adventure which took her eclipse chasing to Kerala and to the Himalaya Hanle Observatory but most significantly to the heart of many people's personal connection to the planets and stars which they become familiar with through stargazing.

Naveen is from Bangalore and is Vice-President of the Bangalore Astronomical Society. Like most people in BAS he spends his evenings on his roof observing the night sky and sharing his observations with the BAS community. Besides this, he has for many years found ways to bring huge numbers of other people some sense of where we are in the universe through skywatching activities. These include his colossal '30 Days of Astronomy' project done at virtually no cost and with very little fanfare. He will talk about his own motivations for being an astronomer

and wanting to share telescope observing with others.

City life has tended to disconnect people from astronomical events. Naveen and Rohini will present and then discuss with the audience what it is to be aware of the skies. Afterwards you are invited outside for skywatching and to experience Rohini's sound installation in the Planetarium garden.

=======================Theatre====================

Unscientific Storytelling

A multimedia performative presentation of stories from science (50 min)

27th November, 3.30 pm

28th November, 5.30 pm

Lecture Hall 1

Unscientific Storytelling is an interwoven and fragmented narrative of our personal connections to science and the ways it permeates our micro and macrospheres.

The performance broadly explores the role of imagination and inquiry in science education and the role of scientists' biographies in understanding their dialogue with science.

Developed by Gauri Sanghi, Rajasee Ray and Deepak Srinivasan

Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology

*Gauri Sanghi & Rajasee Ray *are students of design at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. *Deepak Srinivasan* is an artist, media practitioner, researcher, facilitator.

===================== Film Festival =========================

A Film festival curated by Experimenta Film Society

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2010

Space, The Final Frontier (65mins)

1. Jordan Belson ‘Allures’ USA 1961

2. Telenews ‘Trailblazer in Space’ USA 1961 35mm (on DVD) sound b/w 9min

3. Charles & Ray Eames ‘Powers of Ten’ USA 1977 16mm on DVD colour sound

9mins


4.Khodataev, Komisarenko & Merkulov ‘Interplanetary Revolution’ Soviet

Russia 1924 DVD b/w silent 8mins

5. Space and India, Films Division documentary India 16mm colour sound

15mins

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2010

A Wonderful New World (65mins)

1. Ford ‘A Wonderful New World of Fords’ USA 1960

2. Pramod Pati ‘Explorer’ India 1968, 35mm, b/w, sound, 8mins

3. Superstudio ‘Supersurface’ Italy 1972 DVD colour sound 8mins

4. Neil Beloufa 'Kempinski' France 2007 miniDV colour sound 13.58mins

5. Mika Taanila ‘Futuro - a new stance for tomorrow’ Finland/Suomi 1998

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010

‘Om Dar-B-Dar’ (101mins) **

Kamal Swaroop’s ‘Om Dar-B-Dar’ India 1988 35mm Sound Colour 101 mins Hindi

Om-Dar-Ba-Dar is a fantastical portrait of life in a mythical small town. Om is involved in science, but is also attracted to magic and religion. Above all it seems as if his only outstanding skill is his ability to hold his breath underwater for a long time.

** The filmmaker Kamal Swaroop will be present at the screening.

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