PHOTO ESSAY | Astra Lumina: Corporate Money Grab or Unique Experience?

by Alex Garland

Over the past few months, you may have seen the ads for Astra Lumina on Facebook, or Instagram, or X (formerly Twitter), and now the immersive night-walk experience has finally arrived in Seattle. Held at the Seattle Chinese Garden near the South Seattle College campus, the event's glow can be seen as you arrive. It is open from now through January, Thursdays through Sundays, from 5 to 10 p.m. (and on Saturdays it will stay open until 11 p.m.). From Dec. 14 to 31, the event will be open seven days a week.

Astra Lumina has transformed the Seattle Chinese Garden into a magical evening stroll with nine large light installations. The sounds of frogs are amplified as you walk through some areas, and each installation has its own music and sound effects, helping to whisk you away to another world. (The walk may seem ADA accessible, but the gravel path can be soggy in places, and you are walking around in the dark.)

The nine installations are large, and not the typical Christmas-lights-on-a-chicken-wire-sculpture that some are used to seeing around the holidays. It's similar to the events put on by Lusio, minus the local artists and passion around light art, and with more of a corporate vibe. The $16 parking, $12 beers, merch trailer, and $41 ticket prices ($31 for children, $35 for seniors; some discounts for group bundles are available) are a prime example of how this isn't an event to support Seattle's artists, but it does bring new visitors to the Seattle Chinese Garden.

While the garden walk is neat, it's also important to know who is behind the event. In the opening remarks, representatives from the Seattle Chinese Garden board, Moment Factory, and Fever spoke to the crowd gathered for the preview. Jim Dawson, the founding president of the Seattle Chinese Garden, highlighted the garden's mission to showcase the rich heritage of Chinese arts and culture, serving as a bridge of friendship between regions and people worldwide.

Rob Shalhoub, the team lead from Fever, welcomed the audience, emphasizing the idea of reaching for the stars and the unique concept of the stars reaching for us. Fever, who says it is known for "democratizing access to culture and live entertainment," is, at its core, a "data technology company," according to Shalhoub. "Although we're best known for marquee events, like the Stranger Things experience or the Van Gogh exhibition, people rely on Fever to gain access to a wide variety of events." Leveraging its reach via its platform, Fever underscored its mission to help millions discover diverse events globally.

Fever introduced Astra Lumina as a collaboration with Moment Factory, praising the entertainment studio's creative talent and production capabilities. The director of business development and marketing at Moment Factory, Manon McHugh, spoke about Moment Factory's 20-plus years of creating over 500 immersive experiences worldwide. She expressed the joy of celebrating the 20th Astra Lumina in Seattle and thanked the Seattle Chinese Garden, Fever, and the Moment Factory team for their collective effort.

Moment Factory is an experience-based production studio with specializations in video, lighting, architecture, sound, and special effects, all under one roof. Headquartered in Montreal, the studio also has offices in Paris, Tokyo, New York, and Singapore. According to its website, "It gathers a multidisciplinary team of mavericks from around the world to pioneer the future of multimedia entertainment. We channel imagination and hijack technology to create new collective human experiences."

Attendees were encouraged to take their time experiencing the enchanted night walk and were assured a magical evening. Overall, the collaboration between Moment Factory and Fever brought Astra Lumina to Seattle as a unique and immersive cultural experience, and ultimately, whether they succeeded is for you to decide.

📸 Featured Image: Fog emanates from metal crescents that pulse and create patterns with strips of LED lights. (Photo: Alex Garland)