Portfolio
Fett - Ausstellung und Performance
Fat – the second largest organ in the human body and the most unpopular: there is hardly anyone in our affluent society who does not want to get rid of their own body fat. The more fat a body has, the less attractive it appears to us. Those who do not have their body fat under control are considered undisciplined and lazy, even though there are often medical reasons for having “too much” fat.
In 2023, I underwent liposuction on my legs because I suffered from lipoedema. I preserved this fat in synthetic resin. In the presentation, I chose to elevate the resulting sculptures from mere works of art to relics, thus transforming the unloved and repulsive into objects of worship.
Die Ausstellung im Dezember 2025 im K-Lab Mainz war dazu passend wie ein sakraler Altarraum gestaltet – inklusive einem Devotionalientisch, an dem Kleinreliquien quasi „to go“ erworben werden konnten.
The accompanying performance consisted of an opening ritual for the vernissage and a closing ritual for the finissage.
Informative texts and quotations on the topics of fat shaming and relic worship, as well as a video projection with images of my bare legs, complemented the installation.
The exhibition is still available, both with and without an introductory/concluding performance.
Rite To All - Interactive Performance (Schmitt&Schulz)
For the performative city tour ‘Fahrt ins Blaue’ of the Kulturbäckerei Mainz on 5 October 2023 on the theme of ‘City of the Future’, we whisked the guests away to a dystopian ambience of a different kind. Every few minutes, we whisked the bemused visitors through a post-apocalyptic party setting hidden in an empty old industrial hall.
In Rite To All the visitors are driven by a silver disco astronaut into a cave-like room lined with aluminium, where a mysterious golden machine being awaits them. There, without comment, they are asked to take part in a mysterious ritual, the meaning of which remains hidden. Is it the futuristic derivation of a Last Supper or a bizarre swallowing vaccination ceremony, or both? Is the serum a secret antidote, a contrast agent or even poison? Is it a hard drug or a harmless drink? What happens if I refuse? Due to the absolute duty of confidentiality, visitors only have one chance to answer their questions: by deciphering the clues offered by the room itself. What do the objects that look like relics of religious symbols mean? What do the kaleidoscopic projections mean? Are the droning rhythmic sounds the last remnants of an extinct culture? And what is the big golden machine being all about, which tries to influence its visitors in a kind of short sermon? Does everyone get out of here? Or only those who find the answers?
Rite To All is an interactive performance installation for up to 10 spectators. Each run lasts approx. 5 minutes.
Production Schmitt&Schulz
nonstoponstage - durational performance
nonstoponstage is a durational performance improvisation experiment for two performers, located at the interface between the visual and performing arts. Schmitt & Schulz step onto an empty stage - still without the slightest idea what will happen on it. Everything happens spontaneously, from an interaction with the audience, an impulse or a sudden inspiration: a flow of aesthetic and highly imaginative, performative scenes that varies in tempo and rhythm, but never stops. Duration: 2 - 8 hours
Production pad, Schmitt&Schulz
- Sept 2023, versch. Orte, Mainz: Wenn Steine reden könnten – Mainzer Orte und ihre Geschichte(n) (performativer Stadtrundgang / Schmitt&Schulz)
- April 2023, Bar Jeder Sicht, Mainz: Um Kopf und Kragen (Talk performance / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Sept 2022, Out Of Space Festival, Mainz: When will meet again? – Staging (Internationale Performanceproduktion – live Version / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Mai 2022, Viewport, Mainz: Skin Sight Out (Continuous performance improvisation, 3 days each 2 hours in a shop window / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Jan 2022, Youtube: When will we meet again? (International performance production as a live-stream / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Jun 2021, Christuskirche Othmarschen, Hamburg: Vergangenheit oder das Geheimnis des freien Gedankens (Multimediale Performance über Dietrich Bonhoeffer / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Dez 2019, pad Mainz: Virtual Personalities (International performance production about social media / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Jan 2019, pad Mainz: About Life (Performance on the subject of midlife crisis / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Aug 2019, “Kunstraum Alte Bürger”, Bremerhaven: peeping pad (Dauerperformanceinstallation im Schaufenster / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Sept 2018, Kunstraum “Alte Bürger”, Bremerhaven: be-have – walking act Version (Walking Acts / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Nov 2017, pad Mainz: be-have (Performance on the topic of perception and behavior / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Jan 2017, pad Mainz: Bare Facts – the smile between my lips (Performance on the topic of intimacy and privacy / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Nov 2015, pad Mainz: Higher, faster, further (Ironic mega performance overloed event with 15 different individual projects / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Nov 2014, pad Mainz: The Proformance (High end performance on the topic of humans and technology / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Sept 2014, 100° Festival, Berlin + Nov 2013, pad Mainz: Wahrheit oder Pflicht (Frivoles Performance-Spiel im Duell / Schmitt&Schulz
Series, regular or recurring formats:
- May 2023, Night of the museums, Mainz: nonstoponstage (7-hour continuous performance improvisation / Schmitt&Schulz)
- March 2023, various places, Mainz: Outdoorperformative (performance series - site specific /Schmitt&Schulz)
- Feb 2019, Experimental Action, Houston, Texas: nonstoponstage (4-hour continuous performance improvisation / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Jul 2018, Sommerwerft festival, Frankfurt a.M.: nonstoponstage (4-hour continuous performance improvisation / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Aug 2017, Sprungturm festival, Darmstadt: nonstoponstage (2-hour continuous performance improvisation / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Jun 2017, Night of the museums, Mainz: nonstoponstage (7-hour continuous performance improvisation / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Jun 2014, Night of the museums, Mainz: nonstoponstage unlimited (8-hour continuous performance improvisation / Schmitt&Schulz)
- Aug 2020 - now, Youtube: nonstoponline (Continuous performance improvisation as a live-stream /Schmitt&Schulz)
- Oct 2014 – Sept 2019, pad Mainz: Watch&Eat (4-hour continuous performance improvisation as a regular series / Schmitt&Schulz)
Sprachproben
Ein Weib (Heinrich Heine)
Segler
Greenpeace
Langschläfers Morgenlied (Mascha Kaléko)
Worms
Landliebe
