A Fair New Idea?! #1: Telepathic retreat

A Fair New Idea?! call 1: Working with care

A Fair New Idea?! is about far more than supporting one project towards further development. Below you find one of the ideas by the theme Working with care, which were is developed further in the trajectory, but therefore not less valuable.

What’s the name of your idea?

Telepathic retreat by collective oracle (Caroline Daish (BE/AU), Justine Maxelon (BE/DE)) and (docu)mentored by Rasa Alksnyte (BE/LT)

Description of the idea:

oracle’s working methods are not only used as a performance form but also as a tool for creating communities, to be applied in different contexts with a strong accent on care. It is an eye-closed vocal practice “reading” interiority, private and public spaces, expressing the deepest tensions between voice, body or/and environment.

What’s your idea?

During the spring lockdown 2020 oracle continued their vocal investigations with a series of telepathic moments with a community of artists. The aim was to offer another form of connection and a possibility for artistic experiment in times of crisis and isolation while remunerating each participant for their telepathic presence. In September 2020, oracle celebrated the end of their 2 year research grant with an ‘end event’. Due to the covid restrictions it was created as a telepathic retreat engaging 16 people from around the world and attending it simultaneously but in the places of their own choice. It became a journey into the self, into vocality, care, magic yet offering another experience of connectivity, belonging and community. Prior to the retreat each participant received a carefully crafted and detailed score of chapters for action. As a final chapter of the telepathic retreat oracle gathered an astonishing number of intriguing traces created by the participants during the retreat to build a walking exhibition in the center of Brussels. https://index.nadine.be/4th-wab-oracle-practice-public-sp For fair new idea oracle proposes creation and guidance off the telepathic retreat for broader circle of practitioners. What actions and exercises during the telepathic retreat are necessary to create a profound artistic experience? Stage1: The creation of the telepathic retreat (Composing the retreat score, investigation in possible exercises and practices, drafting a list of participants). Stage 2: The telepathic retreat. 2,5 working days retreat happening simultaneously but at different locations. (We see the retreat time as work, therefore all the participants are remunerated for their presence) Stage 3: Sharing of traces and feedback. Open table moment with pop-up exhibition to present works and impressions made by the participants of the telepathic retreat. Sharing testimonies and ideas on how such a format could improve artistic ways of living and working.

How can we impact the arts sector with your project?

With this project we aim to create an intense moment of togetherness beyond physical presence and expand an already existing network of practitioners and participants. oracle wants to look at how such a telepathic retreat can become a sharable format for finding balance between artistic life and work, inspiration and challenge, the individual and the collective. How this experiment can empower selfcare, self-organizing and self-sustaining, yet still in direct connection to the community.

How can someone who wants to join or support your project contact you?

We are available for contact via emails oracle.body.voice@gmail.com ; alksnyte@gmail.com and social media.