Kickstarter

Memento Mori is a new evening length multimedia performance work by Mauri Walton that is as deeply entertaining and engaging as it is personal and thoughtful.  Created as part of thefidget space's artist in residence program, Memento Mori is a kinesthetic, visual, and aural reminder of mortality that quotes and borrows from the past, ventures inwardly to viscerally explore and perceive the present moment, and moves forward posing questions with an air of curious delight and delicate apprehension.  The piece will premiere on Thursday, October 6th and run though Sunday, October 9th.

The four-section piece was created out of a desire to address purpose and delve into themes of identification, alienation, aspiration, and contemplation.  Instead of beginning with one over-arching concept, Walton has used a new approach and has embraced a process of fitting elements of performance, sound, and visual imagery together en route.  For example, during the opening section, Mauri will revisit Four on the Sidewalk, a piece that she first performed in 1996.  Included are videos by Benjamin Hunter with imagery of Walton’s handmade kirigami (cut and folded paper art with radial symmetry) which are used as interstitials that weave the sections together.  The second section, Be Alien, is presented in more of a spectacle format, and the third section, All Right, borrows from her piece, The Allright Zone which premiered @ the Philadelphia Fringe in 2003.  The soundscape is a collage of various pieces of music; some are composed by  <fidget>’s very own, Peter Price.  The fourth section, Memento Mori, is set to new music which will be accompanied live by another Artist in Residence at thefidget space, Joo Won Park.  This premiere collaboration is imbued with an essential sense of nostalgia, lyrical longing and strangely familiar wonder.