Cosmosis Quests - Launch Event (2025)
The world is not fixed, it is squishy, it can be steered, especially in times of chaos. All of this is a spell, a story that we have chosen. And we can choose to tell a different story.
On the 9th of March 2025, in the church of Ruigoord, Cosmosis Quests and its first two Quests were launched into the universe: immersive audio experiences designed to re-enchant everyday surroundings through a patchwork of stories, soundscapes, rituals and magic.
This sold-out afternoon of stories and music was an ode to curiosity, imagination and magical thinking: a time to explore why imagination, re-enchantment and the magician archetype matter so much in our current time of both crisis and transformation.
In these Quests, I play the role of Wizard. I decided I wanted to take that more seriously than a voice-acting role, so this event would not just be the launch of Cosmosis Quests, it would also be my wizard initiation. The more I work with Cosmosis, the more I realize it is about creating a space in which we can practice different ways of being with the world, and explore authenticity. A space in which we can invite magical thinking, awe, enchantment and imagination back into our lives.
The evening
We need to train the muscle of our imagination if we want to steer our course from the probable towards the possible futures.
The collaborators
This event was a group effort. Cosmosis Quests arose from the scenius strength of a network of creatives supporting each other, and the launch was no different: various people contributed, behind the scenes and on stage.
I opened the event with a story about where the spark to make these Quests came from, and about my desire to become a wizard. Not in the hocus-pocus or fireball-shooting sense, but in the very root of the word: wizard means wise-ard, a wise person. What does it mean to be wise in a time like this?
After pledging my oath to wizardry, I received my outfit, a robe by V. Birchwood and a hat by Anna Charlotte Wijffels. My first act of wizardry would be this event itself: an act of re-enchantment.
This started with Mattea Wuethrich telling a story about a childhood game she used to play, where a shed became a spaceship. After a dangerous journey through space, the shed would land on a 'new' planet and the doors of this spaceship would open again. Outside of the shed-ship she explored earth as a space traveler seeing it for the first time. That was exactly what we were going to do: launch this church into space, so that in a few hours, we could walk out of these doors seeing the world for the first time again.
nicholas thayer provided a modular and analogue ambient soundtrack, accompanied by poetry, which, propelled by noise from the audience, launched the church up into space.
Yvet Youssef, Timo Klok and Gerben van 't Hag, with their band A Million Years To Get Here, gave us a musical moment of observing the earth from up high, and then guided our descent.
With her music and guided meditation, Cézanne gave us a smooth landing, helping us shoot roots again and entangling those with the people around us.
Sophie Wartenbergh connected us with the Dutch landscape through a small food ritual: living, fermented, local foods joining our bodies, so that the landscape does not just exist outside of us, but also within us.
After that, the doors of the church opened again, and we all entered a slightly changed world.
All photos were taken by Seraina Wams.