Saturday, December 20, 2025, at 8 pm at Künstler*innenhaus Dortmund

Shiny Toys & mex present
KAREN WILLEMS
MARCUS SCHMICKLER
UNEMPLOYED AIR HOSTESSES

Once again, the Shiny Toys Festival is teaming up with mex to present three special acts.

The child with the marching drum has become an unconventional drummer, percussionist, composer and musician. Karen Willems is active in various fields. Her expressive, physical drumming and percussion technique has led her to Yuko, the Zita Swoon Group, Mauro and Zwerm, among others. Her aim is to find music in which she can find herself both as a spiritual being and as a creative artist. She is concerned with the essence of her own work, the perception of her personality and the further development of sound as an art of merging different aesthetics and genres. We need smaller, more intimate moments together. That's what drives them: to really connect. Far from the industry, close to the essence of music.
www.about.me/Karen_Willems

Marcus Schmickler is a composer and performer of contemporary and electronic music. He lives in Cologne and Vienna. Schmickler combines computer music, ensemble composition, performance and scientific themes. His multi-channel works have been performed on renowned stages and create unique acoustic spaces. He explores techniques such as Shepard tones and ring modulations and deepens his compositions through data sonification and otoacoustic emissions. Schmickler writes about computer music and has won several awards, including the Rome Prize. He has taught at Bard College, CalArts, the Robert Schumann Hochschule and the IEM Graz. His compositions have been performed by world-renowned ensembles.
www.piethopraxis.org

Elise Ehry and Kitty Maria are Unemployed Air Hostesses who wear their homemade uniforms while permanently off-duty. Since the beginning of their collaboration in 2014, they have continuously developed the figure of the flight attendant and the ways in which she can leave the service. To solidify their withdrawal from the labor market and speculate on the concept of "hosting", they work with performance. Since the absence of tasks has rendered them useless, they ask themselves, "What does it mean to perform?" Their answer is to offer critical non-services in the form of performances, for example: making themselves available as fountains for large corporate buildings, commemorating curators, practicing tango, and staging and performing the body of the service worker.
www.hostingair.eu

Curated by
Achim Zepezauer (Ach Kuhzunft)

Admission
10,- € (Box Office)

Admission
7:30 pm

www.mexappeal.de
www.shinytoys.hotglue.me

Organized by mex - intermediale und experimentelle Musikprojekte e.V. in cooperation with the Shiny Toys Festival. With the kind support of Künstler*innenhaus Dortmund and the Cultural Office of the City of Dortmund.