Join us for the solstice launch of Confidences / Oracle, the new instalment in artist Ivan Cheng’s vampire novel series, and a lover’s trip to a weeklong theatre festival.

Oracles don't require belief—they now theatrically suspend disbelief. No longer advisors of world policy, they run Locus Solus, a town that has come to ramble around an eponymous theatre and chocolate factories. Theo, a centuries-old vampire intent on remaining contemporary through performance, visits Locus Solus, which is hosting Praise Estate, an international theatre festival. He uses the festival as an opportunity to stay with Gean, his oracle boyfriend, who is there visiting family. Theo has a fetish for the future, fixated on the one thing he is in no shortage of.

Following Confidences / Baseline (TLTRPreß, 2021) and Confidences / Majority (After 8 Books, 2022), and preceding Confidences / Production (After 8 Books / MUMA, forthcoming) Confidences / Oracle is the third instalment in Ivan Cheng’s Confidences series. A vehicle for recontextualising recent performance scripts and texts, it intertwines vampires and performance as sites for circulation and recognition. Expect the unexpected.

Confidences / Oracle is the first publication by OCT0, Marseilles. Designed by Sabo Day (assisted by Augustinas Milkus), the book features a cover image by Hyun Lee, HMU by Carly Lim, thanks to Antoinette Barbouttis.

Ivan Cheng (b. 1991, Sydney) works with genres, languages, and their readings. He produces video, objects, performances and publications alongside complex and context specific spectacles. His background as a performer and musician form the basis for using performance as a critical medium. He has initiated project space bologna.cc in Amsterdam since 2017.