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Water is the source of all life on this planet. A haven for microbial activity, resulting in symbiotic ecosystems, forming waterways that tell of hope, insecurity, and cruelty. Because water can kill you. This existential duality is the core inspiration behind a special KOOKOO night in May 2026, which presents the work of five guest performers whose approaches range from the delicate to the enticing and the abrasive. The music of LAURÉN MARIA comes to life in contrast and contradiction. It unfolds in a space where her singer-songwriter sensitivity embraces harsh electronics, setting the stage for a voice that revels in moments of almost translucent frailty and is driven by the fluidity of words and sounds. As Laurén herself once stated, it feels like ‘ice liquefying within endless droplets of a morning’s mist, steaming amidst colours of infinite evaporation’. MARIA F. SCARONI & PELUSIA & Z. HARRIS explore how water can serve as a medium for metamorphosis and connection. For KOOKOO, they make use of it to offer a spell for the dance floor: the long-durational performance Wet is the New Hard. Originally conceptualized and choreographed by Scaroni for the party collective Lecken, the piece is now reimagined as a trio version, inviting the audience to venture into inverted ways of pleasure. ALEX WANG presents a hybrid set of his own bass-heavy, distorted, syncopated productions—as heard on his acclaimed debut album, Doomed Utility, released in 2025—and his always daring selection as a DJ. According to Wang, sound ‘recalls all things, binds all things, moves all things’. He sees himself and his audience as vessels for messages not yet decoded and for purposes yet unknown, but all the more so to be discovered. KOOKOO’s resident visual artists, Yukihiro Taguchi (also known as mokume BERLIN) and CARLY FISCHER, contribute new artworks, while the hosts MIEKO SUZUKI & ARA present even more music, all inspired by the poetry and dualism in Stina Nordenstam’s song ‘Dynamite’. Forgetting you is like breathing water. There’s got to be a better way… * GUEST ARTISTS Alex Wang is a music producer and DJ who has lived across China and the United States and is deeply involved in various underground music scenes. Rooted in club music and noise, his work sits between bass-driven intensity and abrasive experimentation. He has collaborated with artists such as Tianzhuo Chen (Asian Dope Boys), Howie Lee, WangShui, and Kynan Puru Watt (Kaia). He also worked with Kuboraum as part of their Digital Sound Residency. His latest album, Doomed Utility, was hailed as ‘one of the most brutal albums’ in a Ma3zef review. Laurén Maria is a musician who creates textural shifts, moving from softness to heavy noisescapes, by bending vocals and combining quiet guitar with hammering electronics. Her latest album, You're Beautiful, was released on the Bratislava-based label Warm Winters Ltd. in 2025. Maria F. Scaroni is a dance artist who creates and interprets choreographic works rooted in improvisational practices and altered states of consciousness. Maria hosts workshops that repurpose postmodern dance legacies towards technologies of mutual empowerment, crossbreeding somatic practices and anti-oppression frameworks, storytelling, and theory to foster somatic competence in support of a culture of connection. Maria performs in Meg Stuart’s works with whom she has collaborated since 2009. She was part of the erogenous queer rave collective Lecken and hosts Social Pleasure Center, a community space for somatic post-activism, queer feminist joyful militancy, radical redistribution of resources, and temporary social choreography. Maria is currently creating and teaching with icon drag queen Olympia Bukkakis. Pelusia is a performer and activist who composes music that amplifies political expression and fosters connection. Harmonious and discomforting, their work is informed by their experience choreographing for artists and social movements, such as DW Enteignen, Tuntenhaus Bleibt and the Social Pleasure Center. z.harris art-, craft-, politics-, music-, performance-, text-, rave-adjacent.