ORACLE and SACRIFICE 1
or the evacuation of the present a solo performance by claudia bosse
and accomplices and organs
time which penetrates into images
time as decay of the surface
time that bends
penetratable decomposes
worms
transient
sewing embroidery stitching
the foresight the premonition
sculpture and assemblage
as claudia bosse's first solo, ORACLE and SACRIFICE 1 is a thinking with one's own body. an evacuation of the present with poetic actions that explore the future and the past to oracles and sacrifices that touch the inside and outside of the body and the inside and outside of our world.
is it possible to read the ecology of the environment, the surrounding exterior, world-political decisions and cosmic conditions from the organs? or do we find future forms of community in the physical interior? what if we carry our future in our organs?
this work is inspired by the blood sacrifices and visions of the babylonians and etruscans where the political future was read from the organs of killed animals. the liver oracle was especially practiced by the etruscans; organs of animals killed in a sacrificial ritual were interpreted. experts, so-called haruspices (lat. haruspicius (lat. haru: viscera), read world events from the liver of a sheep by means of a cosmic transmission and thus gave recommendations for political decisions. in liver oracles, macrocosmic concerns were derived from the microorganism of a liver. organs became the medium of poetic oracles and communication with the future. perhaps sacrifices are rituals of collective agreement that deal with the trauma that demands the protection of the endangered community.
the handling of organs, their material, structure, function, pattern, their pathologization in our rationalized society is essential for this work. aesthetic transfers will arise - between organ structures, their textures and the world, the cosmos - objects and visualizations of the connection of the present with a future. the organs and their abstractions, their object-like growths as well as the cartographies of their transfer to structures of the present are negotiated in this work as tangible material. with organs, connections are created from the inside of the body to the outside of the world. a fragmentary association to oracle and sacrifice as an object-like and performative narrative with body/s and visual material. movements, transformations, sounds, language, sounds.
ORACLE and SACRIFICE 1 opens a space in which the future and the identities of contemporary subjectivation are challenged. a choreography, a ritual as a growth of forms of implementation, as a speculation on an uncertain future. it is about nothing less than our bodies, our organs, their relationship to the world, dead flesh, the constitution of community.
in the summer of 2021 ORACLE and SACRIFICE moves to the forests of vienna as a continuing work with choir.
accomplices of this work are julia zastava, günther auer, claudia bosse and jonas tonnhofer.
ORACLE and SACRIFICE 1, tanzquartier wien, 2020.
photo: eva würdinger, click to view photo series
concept, space, performance: claudia bosse
accomplices: julia zastava (artistic collaboration), günther auer (sound + artistic advice), claudia bosse (on stage), jonas tonnhofer (on stage)
outside eye: fanti baum, philipp gehmacher
technical director + special effects: marco tölzer
light: phoenix / andreas hofer
assistance of communication: oliver maus
press ambassador: michael franz woels
head of production + preparations: dagmar tröstler
a production by theatercombinat in coproduction with the tanzquartier wien and FFT düsseldorf, supported by wien kultur, the austrian ministry for art and culture and by kunststiftung NRW as part of the co-production cycle "who is speaking?".
a thank you to thomas feuerstein, laura gianvittorio, ulrike haß, anne juren, ismael karadza, mun wai lee, elisabeth von samsonow, chris standtfest, robert steijn, lucie strecker, felicitas thun-hohenstein, dea widya and eduard winter.
ORACLE and SACRIFICE 1
or the evacuation of the present
a solo performance by claudia bosse
and accomplices and organs
28th november 2020, 10pm – 5am (MET)
film streaming
presented by the goethe-institut chicago
following the streaming, there will be an artist talk on the 29th november, 8pm (MET) with petra roggel (director of the goethe institute chicago), david j. levin (professor for theater and performance, university of chicago), tina post (assistant professor for theater & performance, university of chicago) and claudia bosse.
premiere: 9th october 2020
10th october 2020
11th october 2020 TQW, halle G
museumsplatz 1,
1070 vienna
(at)
following the show on 10th october, there will be an artist talk with angela stief (curator of albertina modern) and claudia bosse.
artist talk with claudia bosse and curator angela stief.
october 10th, 2020. tanzquartier wien.
previously in the artistic series ORACLE and SACRIFICE:
as a first from june 2nd to june 6th 2020, the lab oracle and sacrifice took place with artist julia zastava, the performer and dramaturge robert steijn, the indonesian architect and artist dea widya, the latinist laura gianvittorio and the visual artist and philisopher elisabeth von samsonow as well as an extended lab in berlin with the theatre scholar ulrike haß. in october 2020 claudia bosse presented ORACLE and SACRIFICE 1 or the evacuation of the present
her first solo with accomplices and organs at tanzquartier wien, the german premiere was in mid october at the fft düsseldorf. in summer 2021 ORACLE and SACRIFICE in the woods as a work with a choir in the woods of vienna as well as a residency in the fall of 2021 at studio plesungan on java, indonesia.
