Kontinuum seen as a hit for Ottawa
By Matt Gergyek
Kontinuum, an underground multimedia show pitched as the first of its kind in the world, wrapped up Sept. 14 amid claims it was one of Ottawa 2017’s most successful Canada 150 celebration projects.
The 250-plus events produced by Ottawa 2017, the non-profit entity tasked with planning and implementing events throughout the city in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Confederation, have taken place in every ward of the city, according to the bureau’s manager of media relations Denise LeBlanc. The events ranged from small-scale musical performances to monumental attractions like Kontinuum.
Kontinuum was held in Sparks Street’s unfinished Lyon Station on the west side of Ottawa’s downtown core, a part of the city’s new Confederation Light Rail Transit Line that’s expected to be running by May 2018.
The free show was integrated into the LRT project timeline, preventing the spectacle from interfering with construction or slowing progress.
Participants in the Kontinuum multimedia production had the opportunity to trek 500 metres through the illuminated concourse and platform of Lyon Station, transformed into “a rift in space and time” with the help of 15 LCD screens, 82 speakers and 686-metres of strip lighting.
Alanna Colaiacovo, a Kontinuum visitor and Ottawa resident, praised the project’s many interactive features, especially its use of holograms.
“The event engaged the audience from the very beginning by scanning their faces, creating a sort of avatar which was then put into the light show itself. . . . It really captivated everyone,” she said.
The attraction drew more than 325,000 participants during its roughly two-month stretch, nearly a third of whom were from outside the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
The show received a 98-per-cent approval rate from visitors, according to LeBlanc.
The Ottawa 2017 team collaborated with Montreal-based creative studio Moment Factory to bring the otherworldly creation to life.
Guy Laflamme, executive director and producer of Ottawa 2017, said he immediately had his eye on the Confederation LRT Line when he was first given reins of the project back in 2014.
“I felt that it was essential to include (the LRT Line) in the program, (because) it is the most important transformative project in Ottawa since the Rideau Canal,” Laflamme said in an interview.
Kontinuum joins a growing list of successful events hosted by Ottawa 2017.
One of the year’s most memorable projects included Red Bull Crashed Ice, the final leg of the energy drink brand’s Ice Cross Downhill World Championship, which featured a twisting track above the Rideau Canal headlocks. Then came La Machine, the wildly popular summer street-theatre production from France that starred a giant spider and dragon walking through the streets of downtown Ottawa and playing out a dramatic, scripted confrontation.
Next up on the city’s Canada 150 celebration lineup is Mìwàte: Illumination of the Chaudière Falls, a sound-and-light-show on the Ottawa River designed to honour Canada’s Indigenous peoples and expected to run from early October to early November.
Mìwàte will be followed by the Canadian Video Game Awards, which will be projected in monumental scenes on buildings across the city from Nov. 13-18.
The final two events of Ottawa’s big year are the 105th Grey Cup — with events running for a week ahead of the Nov. 26 championship football game — and the NHL100 Classic on Dec. 16, an outdoor hockey game at Lansdowne Park between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadians.
The transient nature of the Ottawa 2017 events is what makes them so special, said Laflamme.
“Christmas is magic because it’s a one-day celebration … It was in the project’s DNA that these events would be ephemeral, and people come to realize you have to be there to tell your grandkids down the road that I was part of this historical moment”.