氣 : Performance by Irene Hsiao with Dominic Kießling’s “Blob”

Irene Hsiao creates dance and performance through object-driven inquiry with museum spaces, exhibitions, and artworks. She is the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Smart Museum, first Artist in Residence at 21c Museum Hotel Chicago, first Resident Artist at the Heritage Museum of Asian Art, and a Radicle Resident at Hyde Park Art Center.

Dominic Kießling is a visual artist whose practice transforms lightweight materials into large-scale kinetic installations animated by fans, hair dryers, or human performance. Born in Dresden in 1984, he studied industrial design before working for a decade in motion and stage design in Berlin. In 2019, he returned to Dresden to focus on analogue art, experimenting with everyday materials and immersive sculptural forms. In 2023, he established his studio in a former factory building to pursue one of his most ambitious projects. Starting with little more than plastic bags and a hair dryer, Kießling developed a dynamic aesthetic that blurs the line between object and organism. His work continues to explore themes of transformation, movement, and material tension.

Mickey Farès is a soprano and improviser based in Chicago, with a rich cultural heritage rooted in Venezuela, Spain, and Lebanon. With a foundation in classical opera performance, her vocal practice explores the full elasticity of the human voice—stretching its expressive limits and weaving together a diverse range of sonic textures.

Her improvisational style draws on the raw spontaneity of free jazz and the rich emotionality of Spanish folkloric singing, creating a unique and deeply embodied sound language. Collaborating with movement artists has become a central avenue in her work, where the interplay of physical and vocal expression allows for a dynamic exchange of energy between performers.

At the heart of her artistic process is a commitment to shared energy—how it is passed, shaped, and amplified among collaborators. For Mickey, improvisation is a playground for presence, curiosity, and connection.