AUTOMATES and Depression Era team up to create a hybrid performance consisting of massage, music and video projections that repositions touch to its therapeutic roots.
In the wake of high-profile allegations (eg. watershed accusations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein) toxic workplaces and powerful leaders who committed grave acts of sexual harassment have been exposed. Weinstein’s female victims recounted a similar act before he escalated heinous behaviour: soliciting or giving a massage.
Massages By Strangers aims to reposition massage from its negative connotations (eg. gateway to physical harassment, body-rub parlours) to its therapeutic roots. The immersive environment actively engages multiple senses – touch, sight, hearing and olfactory, which encourages collective listening and progress while negotiating boundaries surrounding issues of consent and respect. Given recent seismic shifts in social attitudes around health, wellness, impropriety and rights, Massages captures an urgent mood.
Massages By Strangers will be at In The Soil Arts Festival 2018.
Performance Dates/Times:
Friday, April 27 @ 8pm-10pm
Saturday, April 28 @ 2:30pm-4:30pm & 10pm-12am
Sunday, April 29 @ 5pm-7pm
“People can drink with their eyes; I can eat with my nose.”
― Karl Lagerfeld
This project is generously supported by Suitcase In Point and the Ontario Arts Council.
