Episode 074 – Shammi Raj Bhalla | Tech Art explorer, & Co-creator of Cyrcus Collective, & Sensistan

Shammi Raj Bhalla is a co-creator of Sensistan, and Cyrcus Collective. In addition to being a Tech+Art explorer, he’s an artist in the making.

Shammi also teaches at the Royal University of Law and Economics in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Expect to find him learning the latest in technology, and mingling with new age artists.

Listen to his story from engineering studies and chasing Wall Street, to empowering communities through art therapy, and now spearheading India’s first Tech+Art museum!

Sensistan is India’s first Tech+Art museum, nestled amid the lush surrounds of
Badem in North Goa, India. Experience various art expressions occupying different spaces, spread across three floors, a terrace, and a tropical garden.

See the website
Follow them on Instagram
Like their Facebook page
Watch their YouTube channel

Step into this interactive wonderland replete with permanent and rotating exhibits that hope to take you on a multi-dimensional journey.

Cyrcus Collective is a not-for-profit organisation that uses Tech+Art and art therapy to stimulate creative expressions in communities that have had traumatic events.

Also mentioned in this episode
3D Printing – Ai Weiwei – Amy Adams – Andy Trootootoo – Anindya Gupta – Ansh – Arrival – Artechouse – Artificial Intelligence – Art shares – Art therapy – Assagao – Bangladesh – BITS Pilani – Broadway – Burning Man – Cambodia – CODEC – Coded Field – Deep fake – Deep Playa – Disneyland – Elon Musk – Factory Obscura (independent B-Corporation based in Oklahoma, USA) – Family Guy – Fête des Lumières – Foresta Lumina series – Friends – Game of Thrones – George R R Martin – Georgia – Grasshopper – Himalayan Academy of Music Technology – House of Electronic Arts Basel – Jens Uwe Parkitny – Hologram – Kinetic art – Kingdom of Dreams – Kochi Biennale – Light Art Biennale – Light Festival Italy – Lisbon – Live Happy Goa – Long distance sex toys – Louis Vuitton – Machine learning – Magical realism – MoDem Festival – Moment Factory – Meow Wolf – MOMA – Museum of Goa – N, N-Dimethyltryptamine – Naoshima Island – Narcos – Neuralink – New York Stock Exchange – Nimesha Ranasinghe – No Pants Subway Ride – Orlando – Panjim boardwalk – Rahul – Rann of Kutch – Raspberry Pi – Red Cross – Richard McKenzie – Rohingya – Serendipity Arts Festival – Silent Disco – Stephanie Maria Ludwig – Style Transfer Imaging – Subodh Kerkar – Sujauddein – Taste hacking – teamLab* – The Metropolitan Museum of Art – The Wolf of Wall Street – Times Square – Touchdesigner – UNICEF – United Nations – University of Maine – US Open – Vincent Van Gogh – Virtual Reality – VR Porn – Wall Street – Western Ghats – Yayoi Kusama – Zainul Abadeen

Episode timestamps
23:15 – What is Sensistan?
24:30 – Story of Sista, the young girl
27:15 – Awe in art
41:00 – Psychedelics in art
50:55 – Softwares for Tech Art
57:15 – Engaging with interactive art
01:08:10 – Artist operations at Sensistan
01:18:00 – Shammi meets Steph
01:20:00 – Early days during the ideation of Sensistan
01:23:43 – Artshram, Phnom Penh
01:36:45 – Light festivals around the world
01:46:10 – Personal story of Shammi
01:51:00 – Future projects of Sensistan

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Show cover jingle courtesy of Icons8
Music by Nordgroove from Fugue

Episode background tunes courtesy of YouTube Audio Library
Hang by Max Sergeev
Kamogawa Dreaming by South London HiFi
Mix It Up by RalpReal

All photographs by Cyrcus Collective, Sensistan, and Shammi Raj Bhalla, unless otherwise stated