What mediums are available that could replace the ephemeral performance or expand the boundaries of documentation? Is the live-performance replaceable at all? How is death and documentation related? How can something or someone live beyond it’s temporal life. What does this mean?
The oracle practice was created out of a need to vocalise, connect, perform and heal. Our colleague is terminally ill and this guides and influences our way of working and the work itself. One of our main focus became documentation and the question: How to be present during sound-performances while not being present? We are developing telepathic practices that play with connection and projection to make our colleague present.
Due to the Covid19 crisis, the 2nd part of this residency couldn’t be realized as traveling to Malmö became too difficult. After postponing and postponing again, we are faced with the reality that after 2 years our research questions have evolved. We’re not anymore where we used to be. Michel has passed away and grief as well as memories imprint themselves differently on our work and research. The playful dealing with her absence during her sickness is of another sort than after her death. Connecting telepathically to someone who is alive feels different than evoking the presence of someone who is dead. Too fragile yet to touch.
Also we are negotiating our relation to traveling and work in different art ecologies after a year of lockdown or semi-lockdown.
We’re still attempting to go or to let go of the idea or to transform the residency into a telepathic residency.
We’ll see, what the future brings and where we’ll be.
This project was initially planned as a collaboration between oracle and vocal artist Alma Söderberg and sound artist Laszlo Umbreit and is funded by the Swedish Arts Council.