Elise Ehry (b. 1991, France), Kitty Maria (b.1992, NL) are Unemployed Air Hostesses, wearing their self-made uniforms while being permanently off-duty. Since the beginning of their collaboration, they have kept unfolding the figure of the hostess and the ways in which they can retire from duty. To consolidate their withdrawal from the labor market, they speculated on the concept of hosting through performance. Since the absence of duties has rendered them useless, they find themselves wondering : “What does it mean to perform?”. Their answer is to provide critical non-services in performances, such as : volunteering as fountains for large corporate buildings, commemorating curators, practicing tango and parading the service worker’s body.
Flight Case is a performance in which artists Elise Ehry and Kitty Maria, embodying the roles of air hostesses, engage with a transport cart that evolves throughout the piece. Initially appearing as a closed case, the cart is maneuvered through the space before unfolding into a podium. As the transformation unfolds, the cart-podium is integrated into the sound system, becoming an electronic musical instrument. Flight Case offers a handcrafted reinterpretation of industrial aesthetics.
Reproductive Work is a live exploration within the ongoing Air Tonalities series, where air serves as both a medium and a metaphor for shaping form and sound. Kitty Maria and Elise Ehry, known for their engagements in hosting air while offering bespoke non-services, now turn their focus to air’s transductive potential through sonic expression. This performance delves into the blurred boundaries between paid caregiving and unpaid domestic labor, questioning the liminal space between productive and unproductive work.