Getintothis discovers The Kazimier’s Atalonia – a world within a world where magic unfolds amid the greatest story never told. Warning: may contain spoilers.
Atalonia Tours – To find a Hollow Earth.
During the course of Getintothis‘ lifespan, there’s been one recurring question: what is The Kazimier?
Arts collective, performance troupe, touring venue, music hub, secret society… It’s all these things and more.
But most of all The Kazimier is a wondrous storyteller.
And during the course of this week, The Kazimier has embarked on their most remarkable tale yet – ATALONIA.
Of course as with all the greatest stories, we can’t reveal too many of its secrets. But let’s begin, where it all began, at the beginning…
Shaped over the course of nine months and in conjunction with AND Festival, Atalonia is the product of extensive planning, meticulous detail and focused on a grandiose tour of a world within a world.
As with all Kazimier projects there’s their definitive brand – black and white shades, monochrome structures, elaborate inventions involving mechanics, visual projections and stunning illuminations plus otherworldly costume rooted in bygone times but futuristic all at once. All of which are crafted almost entirely from recycled materials, fused together by a vast team of creatives from across Liverpool.
Characteristically Kazimier, clues pre-Atalonia were few.
An octagon-shaped drill (or is it a capsule?) adorns their website, burrowing endlessly into our world into another.
Their maps reveal multi-layers of earth, waters and gas and as the participants of the Atalonia Tours (which run twice nightly this week, culminating in an epic party on Saturday) discover you’re expected to have both your wit and wits about you.
The World within a World.
What follows is a crash course in safety before plummeting into unchartered depths.
Depths which for now must remain secret – strictly no photography is allowed during the tour due to ‘the fragile state of Atalonia’.
What we can reveal, though, is a world so intricate your breath will quite literally be taken away – where light and life explode in unison, where spectacular landscapes meet bottomless pools as music drawn from the books of relic swell amid the blackness.
You’ll be transported to a land where time forgot, where exotic life dance to rituals unlocking time and portals to more worlds within the world.
Epic sonics of the Gods will pour forth as psychedelic drones mix with time ticking to a different beat as faceless wonders perform for your pleasure.
And finally you’ll be lost, riding on a wave, unable to see what’s lurking out there in the abyss as spectres cackle and your senses are addled, save for the lights which blind rather than aid you, only adding to the mystery and hysteria…
Post-tour some of The Kazimier crew Sam, Laura, Paul, Trevor and more appear relieved, tired but ecstatic – the tour goers mirroring their emotions.
While co-creator Venya Krutikov talks of the melodrama and melancholy that strikes him within one part of the tour – contrastingly this was a section we felt tranquil and enveloped by beauty.
And that’s the beauty of Atalonia – it’s a world were your own experience is heightened, intensified and profoundly personal.
Confused? You will be. But you’ll have had the journey of your life.
Atalonia – a world within a world – a world like no other.
Kazimier present ATALONIA from Doctor Captain Lee Isserow on Vimeo.
Atalonia head quarters.
Atalonia Tours
Atalonia Tours – a place to escape together.
ATALONIA.
The Kazimier.
Getintothis on the Kazimier and it’s secrets.
Getintothis – The Kazimier: The phenomenon goes overground.
