Sunlight trickling through a canopy of trees, golden leaves fallen to form a carpet, flowers forming a pattern, celestial bodies blinking in the sky... it is an invitation to walk through nature presented through a digital kaleidoscope, being enveloped in and becoming part of the spectacle.

A digital art experience of six minutes duration is being offered at Indian Museum in collaboration with the consulate general of Australia, which will be accessible till the end of the month on the first floor, during the opening hours of the museum (closed on Monday).

Indian Museum director Arijit Dutta Chowdhury greets Hugh Boylan, the Australian consul general

Titled Walking through a Songline, it is produced by the National Museum of Australia in partnership with Mosster Studio, with the ongoing support of the traditional First Nations’ custodians and knowledge-holders of the story.

Speaking at the ceremonial opening, Australian consul general Hugh Boylan said: “Like India, Australia is home to one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world, extending over 60,000 years. And Australia’s First Nations people are some of the world’s oldest artists, scientists, astronomers, and caretakers of land. This exhibition is an example of reflecting, preserving, and appreciating our cultural heritage, art, and ancient knowledge systems. This immersive installation takes you on a journey of the seven sisters across the central and western deserts of Australia, in what we call Songlines. Songlines are ancestral journeys. These stories form the foundational history of the Australian continent as told by the artists, custodians, and traditional owners of our country.”

According to an explanatory note provided at the site, the Pleiades star cluster is referred to by many cultures, including Greek, Indian and Australian, as seven women. The Seven Sisters Songline begins in Australia’s Western Desert, in Martu Country, where a group of sisters is being chased by a sorcerer looking for a wife. A shapeshifter, he uses many disguises to trick the sisters. But the sisters can shapeshift too, teasing their pursuer and creating songlines as they run and fly.

A projection as part of the digital immersion titled Songlines

As the sisters flee across different countries, through desert lands and across the sky, their activities are recorded in the features of the land and the night sky, which are created using cutting-edge technology. The digital projection reimagines their experience through the audio-visual journey, at one point of which a snake slithers by over one’s body if one stands along its way in the projection space.

“This is the second exhibition we are co-hosting with the Australian consulate general after one last December of a collection of textile works (by aboriginal Australian artists, titled Jarracharra). Over 7,000 visitors came to see it. Such collaborative events are important to share cultural heritage and knowledge. We are keen to host more exhibitions jointly with museums in Australia and elsewhere,” said Arijit Dutta Choudhury, director-in-charge of the museum.

The ‘Walking Through a Songline’ experience is on offer till November 30.