Close Distance : Covidiality La NormaleMaëlle GrossAvec Karine Dahouindji, Pascal Bornand et Aurélien Barrau (enregistrement fait aux Bains des Pâquis, juillet 2020)Texts extract from "Four changes", Gary Snyder, 1969 and "why I should come", Maëlle Gross, 2020narration&music by Maëlle GrossSound lyrics : Bring On the Lucie, John Lennon, 1973 Sounds taken between 2016 to 2020The text "the four changes" by Gary Snyder, an American writer, activist and poet who is part of the Beat generation. His writings challenged me with their precision, their often avant-garde vision (his texts date from 1969) and their pragmatism. This text was written during a short but pivotal period in 1969 in San Francisco in the middle of the "Summer of Love". Thus marking the beginning of a hippie area of change and the beginning of great fights.It seemed timely and inspiring to me to read these environmentalist texts in the light of 2020. It brings a reflection and a debate on these 4 propositions, which can sometimes seem radical and extreme even today. And I can't help but wonder, what has changed today? This sound piece is intended as a journey through these 4 different texts but also as a state. The sounds have been recorded during the last four years but mainly during the lockdown. The piece is meant to be raw with a voice-over often from the first take. As if the reader was discovering the text with the listeners for the first time.Maëlle Gross, born in 1988 in Lausanne, Switzerland, lives and works in Lausanne and Geneva. Maëlle Gross is a multimedia artist who mainly uses video, performance and installations for her work. She creates fictional narratives from the stories, passions and dreams of singular people, for example from interviews with immigrant women or motorcyclists with whom she has developed a close relationship over an extended period of time. For example, bikers for "HotHeads", a bodybuilder (Strike a pose) or women from the Pâquis neighbourhood ("Going where we come from"). She is particularly interested in social problems and questions of identity. The artist sometimes takes on a role in her pieces, for which she creates the texts in collaboration with artist and composer Simon Acevedo, as well as the costumes and props. She has been nominated for the Swiss art Award 2019 and the Prix La Mobilière 2020 at Art Genève. Her first institutional solo exhibition was held at the Kunsthaus Langenthal in spring 2020.