Lighting of the Lamp: A Virtual Diya Ceremony for MAP
A lamp lighting ceremony reinvented for a museum opening, where every guest lit a Diya from their phone and watched it glow across a wall of LED screens.
Project Overview
Few rituals carry as much meaning in India as lighting a lamp to mark a beginning. When the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) in Bangalore opened its doors, ViitorX reimagined that ritual for a whole room. Guests lit a Diya virtually from their own phones, and each flame appeared in real time across six 86-inch LED screens built to look like ancient wooden Diya racks. What began as an inauguration centrepiece resonated so well that it became a permanent interactive installation on the museum floor.
Objective
MAP wanted an opening moment that everyone in the room could share, not just watch. The brief was simple but demanding:
- Let every attendee take part in the lamp lighting ceremony from their own phone.
- Honour the cultural weight of the Diya with authentic, beautiful visuals.
- Capture visitor data along the way to seed the museum's future engagement.
- Make participation effortless through a bring-your-own-device approach.
Challenges
A shared ceremonial moment at scale brings real design problems:
- Hundreds of guests needed to join instantly, with no app to download.
- Digital flames had to feel sacred and real, not like a screensaver.
- The experience had to fill a wall of LED screens while running off phones.
- Sign-ups had to be captured without breaking the spell of the ceremony.
Solutions
We built the whole thing around the moment of lighting, then made it effortless to join. It included:
- Virtual Diya racks We recreated ancient wooden Diya racks digitally across the LED video wall, keeping the cultural authenticity of the ceremony intact.
- Real-time flame lighting Custom flame VFX lit up the instant a guest tapped their phone, giving the ceremony its wow factor.
- Bring your own device Guests joined straight from a browser on their own phones, so the whole room could take part at once.
- Built-in data capture A dashboard quietly recorded participation and let guests subscribe to newsletters or buy memberships in the same flow.
Why MAP Chose ViitorX
MAP needed a partner who could hold cultural sensitivity and technical polish in the same hand. ViitorX brought both: real-time interactive design, dependable data capture, and a genuine feel for the heritage the moment was meant to honour. That is why a one-night centrepiece earned a permanent place on the museum floor. Results & Impact
Results & Impact
- Let every guest light a virtual Diya from their own phone, with no app to install.
- Lit more than 15,000 Diyas across the installation as of today, and still counting.
- Earned a permanent place in the museum after debuting at the inauguration ceremony.
- Captured real-time visitor data that fed newsletter sign-ups and memberships.
- Preserved the meaning of the lamp lighting ceremony in a modern, shared format.
Conclusion
The best museum technology does not replace a tradition, it lets more people into it. By turning a lamp lighting ceremony into something a whole room could share from their phones, ViitorX helped MAP open its doors with a moment people remembered, and kept. More than 15,000 flames later, it is still lighting up the museum.
Let’s Create
Something Bold
Have a vision, project, or idea you’re ready to bring to life? Fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.