Artists
Canada
Alex Karolyi
The Unseen
21.11.22 16.12.22
Alex is a Canadian theatre artist that transformed a youth collective of artists into an award-winning charitable organization. For 20 years, Alex has created new narratives about what and where theatre can be with her motto: ‘Turning everyday spaces into creative places”.
ABOUT THE “UNSEEN” @ ´ace
Ghost stories are everywhere, but are they all the same?
Characters: Alex Karolyi > Liv, a being who is in between; Mike Sell > Eduardo, the ´ACE ghost in residence
I have been interested in exploring supernatural and paranormal true stories in performative ways, to consider that everyone has a story to share whether they are visible or unseen. ace’s theatrical storytelling will be in five short scenes throughout the space. Public may read the scenes ahead of time, or not. It’s up to them. The play begins when Liv lights her candle. Public may follow Liv as she moves throughout the scenes. Some scenes are portrayed with language, with movement only, or with nothing at all.
The nature of the performance deals with supernatural elements, therefore public selected from the following options:
1. a candle to honor, respect and support The Unknown; 2. a crystal for protection and to enhance your own energy or 3. a flower to promote positivity, wellness and tranquility. These items were needed by the public throughout the experience.
She has performed in a number of prestigious venues, being The Haunted Library , The Newmarket Library – Newmarket Ontario Canada; The Vanderhoofen Heist Hesperus Village, Vaughan Ontario Canada; Stories Of The Alphabet Community – Various Venues in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada; Theatre Out Of The Shadows Festival – Various Venues across York Region, Canada and the Apartmental Virtual Theatre Series among them.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Global opportunities inspire me to innovate concepts, pushing beyond theatre to include an array of artistic disciplines and hybrids.
I challenge performers with everyday space and provide spectators with their own artistic agency to chart their creative course in terms of what they want to experience and the depth of their involvement. I continue to pursue new global experiences to juxtapose my hyper-local homebase in York Region, Ontario. By exploring my own artistic possibilities and cultivating my creative capacity, I can continue to be a vibrant force in my community.
BIO
Alex Karolyi
1978 | Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Lives and works in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
EDUCATION
1997 | American Academy of Dramatic Arts ; York University, Canada
2000 | Randolph Academy For Performing Arts, Canada
2015 | YEDI (York Entrepreneur Development Institute),Canada
2017 | Second City (Comedy Writing), Canada
AWARDS
2022 | Most Outstanding Impact finalist – Charity Village; Community Engagement Award – York Region Arts Council – Canada
2018 | Chalmers Fellowship – Ontario Arts Council; New World Theatre Playwrights Fellowship – New Hampshire, Canada
2017 | Leading Women Recognition Award, MPP Chris Ballard – Newmarket, Canada
2016 | Nominated for Best Not-For-Profit, Vaughan Board of Trade; Best Creative Innovation, Creativity Connected Awards – Richmond Hill, – Canada; Business of Excellence in Innovation, Newmarket Chamber of Commerce – Canada
RESIDENCIES
2017 | Bakelit Multi Art Centre, playwright residency, Budapest and Arts Quarter Budapest, Playwright residency, Budapest 2016 | IUGTE, International Artist Exchange, Multidisciplinary Lab, Italy
2015 | IUGTE, International Artist Exchange, Multidisciplinary Lab, Austria
2013 | Ontario Arts Council, International Residencies Program, Hungary
2012 | TAPA TRIP playwright residency, Scotland
Related Activities
´aceNITE, Exhibitions
Revelations
Artists in Dialogue
06.12.22
What is the nature of reality? Do we all experience the same reality? How is it revealed?
Catching sleep every night, when insomnia appears, thinking does not stop and our eyes remain open even though we close them, when anguish or perhaps fear of increasingly threatening shadows occurs… it is at that moment that we are in a bit out of reality? On the contrary, when we fall asleep and dream, within the dream, no matter how absurd what we dream is, we feel that it is real. How do you experience the supernatural, that which cannot be explained by the laws of nature or that exceeds its limits, that set off realities, known by revelation or admitted by faith? Do these facts, which are not entitatively natural, exist as well as the facts of the natural world?
What are the limits? Do these limits exist? Or do you flow between wakefulness, sleep and the state in between?
In Insomnis, Heesoo Agnes Kim plays with the notion of dreams, deals with issues of self-identification, explores the limits between time, light and life. With his camera, Mitchell Sell discovers the phenomenon of blurring of social and political boundaries that occurred in Buenos Aires when Argentina won its third World Cup. Alex Karolyi in The Unknown, works with true supernatural and paranormal stories (in this case related to the house of ´ace itself) in a performative way, considering that everyone has a story to share, whether visible or invisible. Finally, Hee Ju Im in Outputs investigates those sounds that are constantly heard but overlooked, a being that is everywhere but does not reveal itself, a being that cannot define limits or a being that erases limits, and therefore both a being of “otherness” thrown out of bounds. All of them, from different perspectives, reveal to us fluctuating aspects of our “realities”.
ALICIA CANDIANI
