Visit to "Enchanted: Forest of Light"

Photos and story by Madeleine Spencer

Each holiday season, an LA arboretum called the Descanso Gardens transforms itself into an LED-powered winter wonderland. The Calliotree crew decided to visit this exhibit and see what worked and what didn't. We traveled up to Los Angeles, excited to drink in the lights of night in the forest.

There were several areas of the gardens and woodlands decorated with a variety of light, sound and interactivity. We felt that the exhibits that employed as many senses as possible using visual, sound and tactile response were the most successful and interesting. Unfortunately, members of our group felt like the exhibits that did employ interactivity did so in a way that pandered to children and were also overrun by them while playful adults felt somewhat left out.