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Taking place each year in celebration of Matariki – the Māori New Year, Stellar Festival of Lights is a three-day innovative light festival, showcasing interactive installations, entertainment and food at Smales Farm.
This stunning event was part of Auckland’s new winter festival, Elemental AKL - a month-long programme of entertainment, cultural events, food and lights.
After hearing great reviews from people who attended last year, I decided to head over to the North Shore to see what this event was all about. My first impression of the festival was that Stellar’s light installations offered up an incredible array of bright colours and interesting patterns.
I really enjoyed the interactive works, where you could touch part of the work in order to make a drumbeat, or see the lights shine bright. The interactive component of these works reminded me of some great childhood memories, and it was fun to play around like a child again.
My favourite artwork, titled ‘Trilogy’, included a haptic element within the work, whereby you could create a light wave by touching a cylindrical bar.
Another work that really stood out for me was ‘Star Catcher’ – a work referencing the Matariki cluster of stars that are visible in the New Zealand skies at this time of the year. I thought it was clever how the artists linked their work back to the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters - a cluster of seven stars.
This work was also interactive; you could wave your arms in front of a digital sky to produce special light patterns. It was magical!
Several of the installations were located inside nearby buildings throughout the festival site. In one room, the ceiling had digital light projections themed to a disco music, which you could listen to through headphones. This would be so much fun to do with a big group of friends!
In addition to the incredible light installations, we ate a delicious dinner from Shake Out, one of the eateries found inside Goodside. We enjoyed a classic New Zealand beef cheeseburger and cheesecake milk shake. I thought that the burger was quite small, but it was surprisingly filling.
It was impressive to see the various environmentally friendly initiatives that this restaurant had adopted, from the compostable or recyclable plastics through to the meat-free burger options.
I learned that the plastic they use to serve their dishes is all compostable, plant-based PLA, which can be planted back into the soil after use. So cool!
We had a great night out at Smales Farm, and I’d highly recommend people check out this creative light festival next year.
Elemental AKL is a 31 day festival that took place throughout July 2019 and is set to return in 2020.
The full programme for 2019 can be seen here.
Sonia Min
Undergraduate student in Pharmacology
International Student in Auckland, New Zealand
Interested in reading more about Elemental AKL and Stellar Festival? See Jhe Valenzuela's account here.