Some cities exist not only in space, but also in time — and Baikonur is one of them. This is where the Өnergy Creative Hub team travelled to launch a new partnership that takes student projects beyond the university campus and opens up opportunities for collaborative creative work. Өnergy Creative Hub is part of the NU Impact Foundation ecosystem, creating a space for projects at the intersection of science, technology and art.
An important part of the visit was the collaboration between Art&Tech Lab and the team of the museum at the historic Gagarin’s Start. The lab shared its expertise in digital and multimedia solutions for museum spaces and discussed how these technologies could be integrated into a future exhibition.
Art&Tech Lab brings together expertise in visual arts, engineering and digital technologies to develop contemporary ways of presenting cultural heritage — from digital models and interactive exhibits to multimedia experiences. As the collaboration develops, the lab’s solutions could become part of the museum space, offering new ways to tell the story of Baikonur through modern technology.
The visit also provided an opportunity to showcase CinemArt Lab’s expertise in creating content with generative artificial intelligence. One of the key projects presented was the first episode of Genesis, a science-fiction series about university life at NU, set in Baikonur. All the visual content for the episode was created by NU students using generative AI, demonstrating the technology’s potential in contemporary audiovisual production.
The audience made the screening particularly meaningful: among the viewers were professionals from Kazakhstan’s aerospace industry, for whom space is a part of their professional field. The dialogue with industry representatives offered an opportunity to view the project through the lens of real-world aerospace practice and explore the potential of AI-generated content for future media and cultural projects focused on space.