_OraKle Paintings (Catacomb Mirrors) are vessels anointed by the collective KAYA, who conducted a participatory workshop at Tropez, Sommerbad Humboldthain, Berlin, which honed and resonated inside the wish-sound paintings. Amplifying the sonic transmission from the static painting, they worked alongside Nicolas An Xedro, who conducted the mirrored surfaces to howl, sing, and buzz, performing a healing process through the sonic vibrations of both painting and tone, which then culminated in the performance Kaya Yo-Nah Yo-Ho inside an old bear pit in Berlin. These works represent for the artist collective an extended body of painting that, in turn, becomes an extreme form beyond the material, culminating in the energy of seeing.

KAYA is a collaborative working method between German painter Kerstin Brätsch and American sculptor Debo Eilers, which began in 2010. The name refers to Kaya Serene, the daughter of one of Debo’s childhood friends. The collective believes that Serene released synthesising energy between the two artists, using this as an invocation of a “third body”. They have created multiple hybrids that circle the formats of painting, sculpture, and performance, often retooling or reformatting ephemera from other works. The group presents KAYA as a “multiple, ever becoming body”.

_OraKle Painting 01 (Catacomb Mirrors), 2018
Plexiglas sheets, wishes by children, paint, transducers, speaker cable, Mp4 players
Sound by Nicholas An Xedro, 170 x 5 x 97 cm
Courtesy the artists and Deborah Schamoni

_OraKle Painting 02 (Catacomb Mirrors), 2018
Plexiglas sheets, wishes by children, paint, transducers, speaker cable, Mp4 players
Sound by Nicholas An Xedro, 170 x 5 x 97 cm
Courtesy the artists and Deborah Schamoni

_OraKle Painting 03 (Catacomb Mirrors), 2018
Plexiglas sheets, wishes by children, paint, transducers, speaker cable, Mp4 players
Sound by Nicholas An Xedro, 170 x 5 x 97 cm
Courtesy the artists and Deborah Schamoni

_KAYA_YONAH YOHO Necklace (healing performance for a sick painting), 2019
Epoxy, color paint, belts, acrylic rod, rope, wire rope, duct tape, objects, aluminium bowls
Dimensions variable
Courtesy the artists and Deborah Schamoni

with Violence and Kirsten Kilponen
KAYA Boorswester (healing SPA for a sick painting), 2021
Performance, 5hours
Courtesy of the artists and Deborah Shamoni Gallery
Commissioned and produced by the Athens Biennale