Kenji Williams Presents: BELLA GAIA – A Poetic Vision of Earth from Space (Download 2page PDF summary)
BELLA GAIA (Beautiful Earth) is a ‘Living Atlas’ multimedia journey of our world, and expresses the deeply moving beauty of planet Earth as seen through the eyes of astronauts by successfully simulating space flight. Collaborating with NASA, BELLA GAIA is a new immersive theater experience, a portal for an audience to develop a deeper connection and empathy with our planet Earth. Created by award winning director and classically trained violinist Kenji Williams, BELLA GAIA features a 45 minute live performance by Kenji with orbiting visualizations of Earth from space.
From fires in the Amazon basin to time-lapse images of the Arctic ice melt, the stunning orbital imagery created by SCISS’ Uniview software and NASA, provides an exquisite simulation of the astronaut’s view from space. Multicultural experiences are also part of BELLA GAIA, through earthbound journeys from exotic Japanese temples to Egyptian pyramids, featuring a footage from the Laya project.
The vision of BELLA GAIA is to bring the power of art, technology, space science, and real scientific data visualizations together, into a context that is both entertaining and educational, fused with a common goal of raising the awareness and appreciation of our home planet. BELLA GAIA can actually visually display how we humans are affecting the planet, and how each element affects the other, allowing the audience to easily understand the delicate interconnected balance of our planet.
BELLA GAIA is a powerful entertainment and educational outreach vehicle for planetariums, science centers, universities, government agencies and other institutions that wish to convey a broader world view that the destiny of humans and our planet Earth are inextricably linked. Featured at the IPS 2008 International Planetarium Society conference, at top festivals such as the Smithsonian Folklife/NASA festival, NASA 50th anniversary and DLN programming, and to sold-out shows at digital planetariums, BELLA GAIA has delighted audiences from Europe to the USA to Japan, and has proven to engage a wide demographic from 3 year-olds, to students, to heads of government agencies.
(Download 2page PDF summary)
Additional Links:
BELLA GAIA has been featured at:
Smithsonian Folklife / NASA Festival
Copenhagen Climate Change Summit (COP15)
Congressional Auditorium, US Capitol W.DC.
NASA Digital Learning Network (DLN), NASA JPL, NASA Ames, NASA Goddard
LA Center Studios
Aspen Institute
New York Institute of Technology
California Academy of Sciences Morrison Planetrium
Mind Museum, Manila Philippines (w/ Ballet Philipp.)
International Astronautical Congress (IAC)
Science Center, Singapore
International Space University, Singularity University
International Planetarium Society Conference (IPS)
Association of Science & TechnologyCenters (ASTC)
Sidwell Friends School
Hokutopia, with Megastar, Synra Dome, Tokyo Japan
