oracle is an eyes-closed vocal improvisation practice reading diverse spaces; from the body interiority to private living spaces to public spaces, like train stations, parks, institutions, forests and urban gardens. It interacts with these surroundings through instant sound and movement composition and expands the boundaries between individual emotional expressions and shared public space.
Each practice session is unique to the moment and context.
oracle interacts with time and spaces in an unusual manner; sometimes through live-readings, sometimes through telepathy. oracle’s prophecy reveals the past, reads the present moment and talks about a possible future.
We chose the name oracle as it bridges an expansive notion of voice and ineffability. The name, oracle, encompasses agency, ambiguity, obscurity, divinity, communication, medium, utterance and wisdom.
Often oracle is touching upon profound self-realisations about personal habits, failures and needs. However it can also be funny, absurd and intimate. The borders between therapy and art are apparent. We see the oracle practice as a way to develop strategies for personal artistic research with care and attention to self and the other.
Methodology of the practice
oracle combines a fixed body position with vocal improvisation. The chosen position is held for a predefined time frame, creating a stable form for listening and individual vocal research into interiority.
In a group-practice an isolated body-part responds with minimal movement to the vocalities of the co-practitioners, while still holding the fixed body position. The choreographic score is created through auditory perception rather than a visual logic and preset dramaturgy.
The body appears to be reading something “intangible”, giving space for many readings and meanings.
The range of material covered during a practice spans nonverbal vocalisation, text, song, mimicry and social comment. The vocal and improvisation techniques we draw upon are existing and self-devised body practices that also combine shamanistic or intuitive practices.
Accompanying the oracle practice is a live-scoring practice, a notation that translates the experience of the ephemeral performance into diverse visual mediums. These scores can take the form of drawings, paintings, written narratives or video and photographic traces, depending on the participants (visual artists, composers, writers, dancers, children, musicians, neuro-diverse artists, students, health-care patients, spontaneous passers-by).