Close(d)
The past year and a half has forced us all to consider closeness, confinement, and the possibility of collision actively and immediately. The box itself makes these concerns even more immediate and unavoidable: as a small, confined space that defines and mandates the proximity of the artists within it, it creates the conditions for closeness and/or collisions to take place. Our site-specific project places Marion Aether, an aerialist, and Rory Jade Grey, a musician, inside the box together. While aerial is more physically dynamic, both of these disciplines take up space. In their live iterations, they require the active and ongoing work of the body to take form. Even the seemingly least embodied element—the looping pedal—relies on specific and specifically-timed physical movement that could be affected by how we each physically navigate the space and how we respond to the ever-changing closeness of each other’s bodies. Inside the box, as we respond to each other’s sound and movement artistically, we must also respond to each other’s material presence and movement in space practically. Our confined, collaborative work creates the opportunity for responsive closeness, but also necessitates attentive reaction to each other’s physical presence, as closeness can easily overlap with getting in one another’s way.
close(d) recorded on Oct 9, 2021
close(d) with Creative Audio overlaid on video
Created by Marion Aether and Rory Jade Grey
Rory's soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/rory-jade-grey/tracks
Marion Aether's Instagram: @marionaether
Marion Aether is a queer, non-binary aerialist specializing in trapeze and aerial rope. They have performed, among others, at QueerCab (Buddies in Badtimes Theatre), Hercinia Art Parties, On Point, Rev.er.ie, the Toronto Queer Film Festival Symposium, and the 30th Anniversary Northbound Leather Fetish Night. They also write about circus, including a collaborative publication (Circus Thinks: Reflections) which emerged from the work of Cirkus Syd's international Circus Thinkers Platform. *
Rory Jade Grey is a non-binary multidisciplinary musician and performance artist based in Toronto, ON. As a multi-instrumentalist musician with over 10 years of performance experience, they’ve played guitar, drums and bass in several musical groups, such as The Masses, The Overtones and — most recently — with IM Brown and The Transcendents. They’re also a solo artist who’s performed original works across Canada and scored a handful of independent films.