ORACLE

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the graves of Mozart and Salieri, Vienna, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the graves of Mozart and Salieri, Vienna, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

What advice would the (in)famous Dead offer us today?
Employing the technique of frottage, and informed by memento mori and our obsession with celebrity, BORIS+NATASCHA explore a contemporary take of the ancient oracle through a message from the (in)famous Dead.

Via stealth, synchronicity, mysticism, research and guerilla action, BORIS+NATASCHA create a “grave rubbery” – an imperfect anagram rubbed from the letters of the name on the tombstone. This frottage becomes both a message from and representation of the infamous deceased person – as well as a reminder to celebrate life, here and now.

Oracle is an ongoing project, since 2009, with over 50 unique works-on-paper.

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Gilbert Bécaud, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Gilbert Bécaud, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, Oracle from the grave of Jim Morrison, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece, 2010

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Jim Morrison (James Douglas Morrison), Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Edith Piaf, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Edith Piaf, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Oscar Wilde, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Oscar Wilde, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Vincent Van Gogh, Auvers-sue-Oise, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Vincent Van Gogh, Auvers-sue-Oise, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

bn-bellini_love

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2009, Oracle from the grave of Vincenzo Bellini, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Hans Bellmer, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Hans Bellmer, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

bn-sartre-debeauvoir_return

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Jean-Paul Sartre & Simone De Beauvoir, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of André Breton, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of André Breton, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

bn-callas_call-m

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Maria Callas, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Samuel Beckett, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Samuel Beckett, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

bn-morrison_undress

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Jim Morrison (James Douglas Morrison), Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

borisnatascha-sontag_onangst-2009

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2009, Oracle from the grave of Susan Sontag, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique

borisnatascha-lyotard-joyisacarrot2010

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Jean-Francois Lyotard, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Charles Beaudelaire, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Charles Baudelaire, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, München, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Munich, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Gustave Eiffel, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Gustave Eiffel, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

borisnatascha-ravel-cum-2010

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Maurice Ravel, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of The Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen), Berlin, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of The Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen), Berlin, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2010, Oracle from the grave of Leni Riefenstahl, Münich, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Leni Riefenstahl, Münich, frottage on handmade paper, 51 x 76 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2009, Oracle from the grave of Sarah Bernhardt, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2009, Oracle from the grave of Sarah Bernhardt, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2009, Oracle from the grave of Max Ernst, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2009, Oracle from the grave of Max Ernst, Paris, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Friedrich Nietzsche, Röcken, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Friedrich Nietzsche, Röcken, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Casper David Friedrich, Dresden, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Caspar David Friedrich, Dresden, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Klara & Alois Hitler, Leonding, Austria, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

BORIS+NATASCHA, 2011, Oracle from the grave of Klara & Alois Hitler, Leonding, Austria, frottage on handmade paper, 47 x 66 cm, unique piece

The ongoing series includes Oracles by: VAN GOGH | MORRISON | BECKETT | CALLAS | WILDE | FASSBINDER | PIAF | GAINSBOURG | ERNST | SATIE | RIEFENSTAHL | NIETZSCHE | C.D FRIEDRICH | SARTRE / DE BEAUVOIR | MOZART / SALIERI | FEUERBACH | CITROËN | RAVEL | BELLINI | BRETON | GIVENCHY | HEINE | MAN RAY | EIFFEL | STEIN | MERLEAU-PONTY | CHOPIN | SCHIELE | TARKOVSKY  |  TRUFFAUT  |  BELLMER  |  BAUDELAIRE  |  SONTAG  |  ÉLUARD | NUREJEV | BÉCAUD | FALCO | TZARA | SCHNITZLER  |  DEMY  |  BERNHARDT |  NIJINSKY | HITLER’S PARENTS | LYOTARD | E.T.A HOFFMANN | MARCEAU | DÜRER  |  THE RED BARON  |  NICO

BORIS + NATASCHA IN ACTION

BORIS + NATASCHA at Francois Truffaut's grave, making Focus, Montmartre cemetery, Paris, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at François Truffaut’s grave, Montmartre cemetery, Paris, about to channel the dead filmmaker, 2010

At André Breton's grave, making Breed Art, Batignolles cemetery, Paris, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at André Breton’s grave, making Breed Art, Batignolles cemetery, Paris, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Susan Sontag's grave, making On Angst, Montparnasse cemetery, Paris, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Susan Sontag’s grave, making On Angst, Montparnasse cemetery, Paris, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Vaslav Nijinsky's grave, making Kiss In Vain, Montmartre cemetery, Paris, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Vaslav Nijinsky’s grave, making Kiss In Vain, Montmartre cemetery, Paris, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Vincent Van Gogh's grave, making Ache Into, Auvers-sur-Oise cemetery, France, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Vincent Van Gogh’s grave, making Ache Into, Auvers-sur-Oise cemetery, France, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Egon Schiele's grave, making Silence, Ober–St Veit cemetery, Vienna, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Egon Schiele’s grave, making Silence, Ober–St Veit cemetery, Vienna, 2010

BORIS + NATASCHA at Casper David Friedrich's grave, making Sacred Rider, Trinitatis cemetery, Dresden, 2011

BORIS + NATASCHA at Casper David Friedrich’s grave, making Sacred Rider, Trinitatis cemetery, Dresden, 2011

INSTALLATION VIEWS 
Halle 14 Leipzig | MAK Vienna | ACC Galerie Weimar | Espace Culturel Beauvais | KIK ONE Berlin | 1066 Contemporary Arts Festival Hastings UK

Installation view (detail), BORIS+NATASCHA's Oracle Happening at MAK, Vienna 2011

Installation view (detail), BORIS+NATASCHA’s Oracle Performance at MAK, Vienna 2011

BORIS + NATASCHA Installation view: Oracle as part of Whatever Happened to God?, Halle 14, Leipzig 2012

BORIS + NATASCHA Installation view: Oracle as part of Whatever Happened to God?, Halle 14, Leipzig 2012

SELECTED PRESS
The Art Newspaper | Art Basel Daily: Dead Artists Society – The Last Word

More at BORIS+NATASCHA