Kazimier - New Rituals, Wow Machine, Dogshow: Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool

Wow Machine

The Kazimier had it’s annual winter ball at the Invisible Wind Factory and Getintothis’ Amy Faith braved the North Docks for the spectacle.

Regent Road is one of the parts of Liverpool city centre that still seems sort of forgotten; driving down here at night you would be forgiven in thinking of macabre horror stories of back alleys and bogey men.

But it’s here in the darker side of town that the Kazimier decided to reignite their flame, casting aside the shadows with plans of a super shiny winter ball – tonight’s dress code, for one, reads: “iridescent”.

The Invisible Wind Factory is the kind of cool that only comes with a non-commercial, independent venue. A huge space converted for events, rough around the edges and still underground enough to be known only by the edgiest of edgy people. It’s a perfect choice of venue for a Kazimier event.

Walking into the venue, the entrance hall gives you a mini thrill, with iridescent plastic hanging everywhere, creating a kind of holographic womb. However other than the 2 foil covered tables where punch is being ladled from a silver soup bowl, the rest of the iridescent theme decorations can only be found on human beings. 5/10 for venue dressing effort.

Now don’t get us wrong, as an old-time attendee of wacky Kazimier events gone by, we can attest to the fact that the level of decorations were always on a scale from 1 to kindergarten, but the difference being that there were always an abundance of them.

Once inside the underbelly of the beast, the crowd is completely mixed – something that makes you feel accepted and welcomed straight away. Anyone who has neglected to turn up in the pre-requisite iridescent themed clothing is instantly adorned with extra pieces of foil or glitter make up.

The sound of fluttering and rustling plastic is everywhere as people bedecked with Christmas ornaments and 90’s reflective backpacks sway to Barbarella influenced beats from the DJ.

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Wow Machine (Stealing Sheep) and their pack of white leotarded dancers are soon climbing onto the white pyramid stage at one end of the room. The dancers, whose faces are concealed by rainbow coloured pieces of gauze, respond to the clicks and whirrs and sighs from Wow Machine as they beat out extra-terrestrial melodies on what looks like 1960’s X-ray machines. The crowd watch on in a semi state of awe and quiet respect.

Soon Dogshow are climbing into their circular revolving stage at the other end of the room and the bells suspended from the ceiling above their heads chime into life, triggering a laser beam from the heavens that bounces off 4 huge reflective installations. The fans (i.e. anyone who religiously followed the iridescent costume theme) are stimulated into an almost cultish frenzy, encircling the small stage, raising their hands aloft and voluntarily making strange vocal harmonies, as stage smoke billows over the crowd.

W O W MACHINE & DOGSHOW’S S T R I X pic.twitter.com/6cYfxQw0wF

— Kazimier (@thekazimier) December 15, 2018

Soon everyone is enveloped in the stuff and all you can hear is the bells, buzzers and drum beats from Dogshow (as well as the continuous rustling of holographic plastic) as their avid followers begin to rush around the stage in concentric circles, spinning the stage as they go.

If you were ever made to feel welcome earlier, you are soon made to feel like an outsider as you step back to contemplate what is actually happening!? Plus, the overall effect is much more dramatic if you stand back to watch the spectacle from afar anyway…

All in all, Liverpool was treated to yet another Kazimier event with slightly inexplicable occurrences (what’s new there?) and delightfully mesmerising costumes (as usual!)

Images by Getintothis’ Amy Faith