Bringing the Golden Temple experience to the Greater Toronto Area and Canada with the IN5 Experium: Golden Temple

By Harrish Thirukumaran

“It’s a mixed reality experience on Sikhi and the Sikh religion, but also a fantastic story about Canada.” remarked Bobby Sahni about the IN5 Experium, while moderating a press conference with the curators to launch this exhibit on April 15, 2019. The IN5 Experium is a hi-tech, state-of-the-art projection technology, the exhibit is a one-of-a-kind immersive experience. The Golden Temple experience not only recreates a virtual tour of the Golden Temple, it also explores Sikh history, philosophy and way of life.

Canada is a natural place to launch this exciting, unique International tour, and the GTA is the perfect location, with its vibrant South Asian communities and multicultural mosaic. IN5 Experium: The Golden Temple is being brought to North America by PDA HaB Media, a division of Trade Fairs Pvt Ltd. — one of the foremost names in India and internationally, in the trade, exhibition and conference industry, spanning finance, airports, maritime, woodworking, health, fitness and beauty industries.

The launch event was held at Bramalea City Centre Mall in Brampton, Ontario, which will be the location of the exhibit for both Sikhs and non-Sikhs to visit in order to learn deeply about the Sikhi religion and culture. It is an opportunity to bring the experience of visiting the Golden Temple in India within Canada itself.

The curators were Pradeep Thivya, the Chairman of Trade Fairs Pvt. Ltd, Harinder Singh, the cofounder of the Sikh Research Institute and Punjab Digital Library, Inni Kaur, the CEO of SikhRI, and Manigathan, CEO of IN5 Experium.

Interestingly, all curators offered diverse perspectives on their partnership to create this exhibit, and its meaning for Sikh and non-Sikh religious communities as well as South Asian and non-South Asian communities across the GTA and Canada for that matter. As an organizer of trade fairs for various industries, Pradeep Thivya noted that the current trade fair industry will soon be replaced by current age of digital technologies such as virtual reality. In response, his company, Trade Fairs Pvt. Ltd. have been looking closely at multimedia to enable a truly experiential space in areas of tourism, sports, and commercial endeavours. The Golden Temple was an obvious choice, given all its glory for the theme of this space.

According to Mr. Singh, the purpose of this exhibit is to create a culture of oneness, as Sikhism itself advocates both spiritually and divinely. Now that more people from Canada, especially aspiring prime ministers, are travelling to the Golden Temple, it’s important that the narrative surrounding the Golden Temple be told to both ongoing and potential visitors. In terms of the multicultural mosaic that Canada prides itself on, he stated that the content of the exhibit should be seen in a more idealized sense than what is currently practiced in Canada.

In the context of the exhibit, the story of oneness means you remove categories out of a person’s relationship with God. Secondly, the vocabulary in the actual exhibit is not religious in nature but offers some combination of spirituality and revolutionary elements.

Multiculturalism is thus considered open access, where it acknowledges the diversity of gender, geography as well as ideas for those coming together in a physical space. It is meant to address structural problems akin to the reconciliation conversation with Indigenous people in Canada. It is accomplished by building institutions and value systems regardless of beliefs of Godliness or non-Godliness. In light of the anti-Muslim attacks that took place in New Zealand, Mr. Singh also highlighted that oneness signifies efforts to curtail attempts by bigot-minded individuals to see people of different cultures and faiths as other categories. White nationalism and these categories should not be subscribed to, because it is a mission for all of us to characterize ourselves as one when we can find divinity with God.

Therefore, it is more appropriate to refer to Sikhism as Sikhi, as told by the curators responsible more so for the content side of this project. This closely ties in with responses by Inni Kaur, noting that individuals should listen to the content carefully. The aim is to fall in love with the content as a source of celebration for divinity in all of us, regardless of religion. If we do that, we have won. An exhibit where the whole family from diverse backgrounds can enjoy it, where they feel like they are a part of something, touching the hearts and minds of people, and appreciating the divinity in all of us, then, we can become better citizens.

Faith stands on the divine light that all of us can embrace. Mani sees the exhibit as something that applies to everyone, where it inspires individuals to go back to India and explore that piece of divinity that the exhibit conveys.

Several government dignitaries including municipal, provincial and federal elected officials graced the event with their presence. Having obtained a sneak peek of the exhibit, Ruby Sahota, Member of Parliament for Brampton North, asserted that it really is truly that experience you get from being at the actual Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India. Furthermore, she noted that the people of Brampton are excited to be the hosts of the exhibit and, as a representative of the Government of Canada, looks forward to spreading the good word of this exhibit among others.

Gurpreet Dhillon, regional councillor for Wards 9 and 10 of Peel Regional Council, recognizing the presence of people of many backgrounds in Brampton and elsewhere in Canada, Councillor Dhillon stated that it was fitting that like a Sahib, Brampton has been a city that welcomes different communities including the curators of this exhibit. As someone unable to speak the best Punjabi, Gurratan Singh, Member of Provincial Parliament for Brampton East, noted that the exhibit is important for reinterpreting the history and culture of the Sikhi people for those living outside of the Punjab region.

The exhibit is now open to the public for two months starting from April 16, 2019.