Hot Mess!

Hiroko Tamano. (Born in 1952 in Fukuoka prefecture, the second of three daughters in a farmer's family). In 1970, she moved to Tokyo to study art. In 1971, she visited Hijikata's studio and joined his company in 1972. She made her stage debut with " 燔儀大踏鑑 ( HanGi DaiTouKwan)" at Kyoto University’s West auditorium. She became Koichi Tamano’s partner and has been working with him ever since. In the late 70s, Koichi and Hiroko moved to the United States, settling in the Bay area. They were the first Japanese butoh settlers on the West Coast. Hiroko has been teaching & introducing butoh to generations of students in the US for 30 years now. She is still teaching, choreographing, and performing today.

Pronoun: "sHit” if not “she" Born 1981 in Ho, Ghana, Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi [crazinisT artisT] is a transwoman who works internationally but lives in Kumasi, Ghana. sHit is a multidisciplinary “artivist”, curator, mentor, the founder and artistic director of crazinisT artisT studio and perfocraZe International Artists Residency (pIAR) which aimed at promoting exchange between international and local artists, activists, researchers, curators, and thinkers. crazinisT has performed and exhibited across the globe including countries such as Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany, Netherlands, Cape Verde, USA, Spain, Brazil, France and UK. sHit has also been featured in several, publications and magazines such as the I-D Vice London, I-D Vice Dutch, Financial times, King Kong Magazine, CCQ London, Maimi Rails, ‘Freeflowingvisuals’, TRT WORD Film Documentary, This is Africa, Art Ghana, Lost At E Minor, CNN, The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Tageszeitung (TAZ), Horizonte da Cena, Radio FRO etc

Rin Peisert is an interdisciplinary artist who works with bodies, sounds, found objects, and live actions to explore conditions for interdependence and sincerity. Her site-responsive actions use intervention and interaction as tools to reorganize behavior and to exaggerate the quotidian. Peisert’s performance work has been seen at Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Power Station of Art Shanghai, The Momentary Museum, and Defibrillator Art Gallery, and as well as street corners, rooftops, a bank vault, a bomb shelter, and a market for arranged marriages. Peisert has an MFA in Art Practice from School of Visual Arts, NYC. She also co-produces and conducts the graphic score series, Image of Thought and is the Performing Arts Curatorial Artist-in-Residence at Elastic Arts, organizing the series, Relative Intensity Noise.

Mallory Yanhan Qiu (b. Chongqing, China) is a Chicago-based artist and curator who is deeply passionate about live sound performance, sonic studies, body movement, poetry, and digital visuals. Mallory draws inspiration from physical sensations and biological movements, aiming to flip the familiar and discover memory-laden places that coexist both near and far. She has performed at Compound Yellow, Epiphany Center for the Arts, Elastic Arts, Mana Contemporary, {} () {} ∆ ‡ | () {} Nonation Art Lab, Research House for Asian Art, SAIC, and Tritriangle. 

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Mz. Mr. has been a burlesque performer for more than a decade and has trained professionals in the Chicago area and around the world. But many days find her teaching at the Chicago Therapy Collective, a mental health and advocacy organization for trans people. There, she plans events like a variety show for trans performers at Andersonville’s Midsommarfest 2022 in Andersonville. Mz. Mr. holds a masters degree in art therapy from the School of the Art Institute.