Kosmic, the annual event hosted by the students of the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, has felt a little too pristine and stale in recent years, according to this year’s organizers.
“Our vision was to have it be a little more grungy,” co-organizer Simon Petepiece said. “The tradition of it is getting your hands dirty, so we wanted to bring it back to that.”
The first step was the venue. Recently, it has taken place in cramped spaces such as Babylon Nightclub.
On March 21, Maker Space North was converted into a giant space of 23 installations, plus a full bar.
“It is a warehouse so it has that atmosphere, and so there was really no restrictions in terms of installations,” said co-organizer Trevor Whitten.
Carleton students Luisa Ji, Lee-Michael Pronko, Thaly Crespin and Ema Graci built a grassy knoll taking up a full corner. The installation was based off of a grassy knoll where the concept informed the design.
“We used artificial material to recreate this scenery of rice paddies ascending into the clouds,” Ji said. “We’re also using real grass, so it’s this intimate moment of the artificial and the natural colliding.”
“I don’t think there’s a separation between art and architecture,” Pronko added. “When you get people together with different backgrounds and ideas, they collaborate and come up with new, creative ways of doing things, which is the best part of it all.”
Another highlight was the 3,000-watt sun, built by Don Dimanlig, James Bartlett, and Lysander Zimmerman. The installation was a blinding light meant to represent the sun.
“The point is the photographic moment that is created with the person placed in between the sun and the photographer as they bleed into a silhouette,” Bartlett said.
The music was provided by local artists, including DJ Matt Tamblyn. Combined with all the coloured lights and elaborate constructions, it offered a pulsing dream-like ambience to the night.
“Supporting local artists is a lot better than flying someone in for the night,” Whitten said. “We’ve been collaborating with the artists so they’re more invested in the event, which makes it more successful.”
The space, the contributors, and the music were all meant to come under the theme of Apollo, the god of creativity and the sun.
“Going to previous Kosmics, they were good,” co-organizer Tori Hamatani said. “But we were like, ‘What if it was like this?’” Hamatani said.
She said there’s always been opportunities to do better.
“It was the first time I had gone and was probably one of the highlights of 2015 so far,” said Olivia Johnston, a fourth-year art history student. “Pretty perf.”
Petepiece said the event went better than they could have imagined, making sure to give credit to Partyy., a local group that provided visuals. The execution was just as they envisioned, a slickly collaborative effort.
“There’s something about partying in a space which you and your friends built and created,” Dimanlig said. “It feels 10 times better.”
