Art collective Factory Obscura takes OKC on a starry trip with 'Cosmic Callback'

Concealed from the glare of the summery sun, the kaleidoscopic floor mural with its neon yellows, oranges and pinks temporarily shines as the brightest entity in the temporary exhibition space of Factory Obscura's headquarters.

Then, the light show begins.

Sparkling lights and otherworldly sounds transform the delicately draped structure suspended from the ceiling into a starry centerpiece inside "Cosmic Callback: An Illuminated Interlude."

"As a loose narrative, it's what it's like to go inside of a star and back," said Oklahoma City film composer and music producer Nikolas Thompson, one of the local artists who worked on the installation.

"'Cosmic Callback,' I think, is open for interpretation. But it does have something to do with our place in the universe and what else might be out there and how we could interact with that, whether that could be beings or just space itself."

Here's what you need to know about Factory Obscura's "Cosmic Callback":

When and where can you experience 'Cosmic Callback?'

The immersive installation "Cosmic Callback: An Illuminated Interlude" is open through July 31 inside the Oklahoma City artist collective Factory Obscura's headquarters, 25 NW 9 in downtown OKC's Automobile Alley neighborhood.

The summer attraction is designed to be a temporary companion piece to Factory Obscura's popular permanent interactive art experience, "Mix-Tape."

"We see a lot of people who are traveling and visiting Oklahoma City over their school break. But it also gives people who've been to 'Mix-Tape' before a reason to come back and see something new," said Kelsey Karper, Factory Obscura co-founder and director of logistical creativity.

How many Oklahoma artists worked on 'Cosmic Callback?'

Ten local artists, including three music composers, worked for several months to create the "sound and light odyssey" that is "Cosmic Callback."

"We came together with the goal to create something that would communicate a narrative, a feeling, an emotion, primarily through sound and light, which is the reverse of how Factory Obscura typically works," Karper said.

"We usually start with the physical environment, and then we create sound and light components that will complement that. But we reversed the process this time to challenge ourselves to create in a new way and to make something that our participants have never seen before."

The team started with the concept of a deep space journey through the heart of a star and back again.

"Our sound team started creating that in conjunction with the lighting and visual design and also the physical elements," Karper said. "So, all the artists are collaborating and communicating constantly to make sure that we're all telling the same story."

Along with Thompson, Lindsey Cox and Dan Moyer composed the celestial soundscape for "Cosmic Callback."

"We agreed on a key, which is the key of G major. Lindsey did the first four minutes, I did the second four minutes, and Dan did the end part," said Thompson, who recently composed the score to the local feature film "What Rhymes with Reason."

"I wasn't exactly sure how it was gonna work ... but it helps having a set key signature to start. Then, I do audio mixing — film composing actually is my main thing, but I do like audio mixing — so I made it sound cohesive with some of the same sounds."

Other artists who worked on the project include Karper, Amber Rae Black, Emma Difani, Tammy Greenman, Jaiye Farrell, Barney Karper and Hugh Meade.

How does the inspiration for 'Cosmic Callback' date back to the COVID-19 pandemic?

To trace the inspiration for "Cosmic Callback," you have to flash back to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Factory Obscura's "Mix-Tape" experience was still closed due to the coronavirus.

In summer 2020, the artist collective debuted a mobile light experience called Downtown Starlight to sparkle and shine at outdoor events. Designed to be mounted in a truck bed or trailer for versatility, the light experience measured 6 feet across, was double-sided and boasted more than 1,200 individual points of light programmed to respond and react to original sound in real time.

"We imagine that 'Cosmic Callback' is the continuation of the story that we started with that Downtown Starlight piece," Karper said. "We imagined this star being that came and visited all our downtown parks and created this experience back in 2020. We wanted to expand on that story — so that's what this is."

What will people see and hear inside the 'Cosmic Callback' installation?

A collection of soft-sculpture seats — puffy pillows and legless loungers — ring the round neon-hued mural on the floor of the dimly lit temporary exhibition space. Participants are encouraged to recline, relax and direct their attention to the ceiling, which is dominated by the white fabric sculpture suspended from it.

The mysterious structure becomes the centerpiece of the mesmerizing 14-minute looped light and sound experience. An ever-changing ebb and flow of brightly colored lights are matched with cascades of otherworldly electronic music that evoke the sense of taking an interstellar voyage.

Viewing "Cosmic Callback" through light diffraction glasses, or rainbow glasses, makes the starry trip even more, well, trippy.

"We hope always with Factory Obscura experiences that the participants can come in and kind of release themselves from their everyday world and have an experience that is filled with wonder and fun and playfulness and curiosity," Karper said.

"We hope that, having that experience, that you can then go back out into the regular world and carry that with you. And, hopefully, it has ripple effects throughout the rest of your life (so) that you can approach the world in a more hopeful and wondrous way."

How can people get tickets to 'Cosmic Callback?'

"Cosmic Callback" is open for general admission during regular "Mix-Tape" hours through July 31.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Both experiences will be open special holiday hours of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 4.

"Cosmic Callback" tickets are $8 for general admission, $6 for kids 12 and younger and free for children 3 and younger. Attendees can save $2 when they bundle their tickets with the "Mix-Tape" experience, and admission is free for "Mix-Tape" members.

For tickets and information, go to https://www.factoryobscura.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC art installation 'Cosmic Callback' is an otherworldly odyssey