performance and video installation
artistic research
Oracle
2021
performance and video installation
cooperation with Annagreta König Dansokho
video: Rodrigo Otero Heraud
11 min.
Babylon, 3rd millennium BC: Due to his vulnerability, man strives to exert control over events. In order to prevent unfavorable ones, it was necessary to establish a connection with the powers that knew the future. This was done in a ritual by the sacrificial priest as mediator between the visible and invisible worlds, with the help of a sacrificial animal and a prayer.
Today mathematical methods have replaced divinatory ones. In dealing with crises, a ritual framework is missing for both the individual and the community. The confidence that is currently placed in statistical predictions can be compared to the confidence of a liver oracle interrogator thousands of years ago. People fear and die today as they always have. The longing for calculating the future from the present is the same, and knowledge is still being produced by prediction.
Mandragora - Alraune
2023
performance and video installation
video: Rodrigo Otero Heraud
10 min.
The mandrake (mandragora) stands for an amorphous state of connectedness with forms of non-human existence whether inorganic, plant, or animal and thus for an “interwoven plurality” (Maffesoli, 1986). Etymologically, Alraune, the German word for mandrake, comes from “alb” (ghost) and “runen” (to whisper) and can thus be described as a secretly whispering spirit. Since ancient times, this plant has been shrouded in legend, with poisonous roots and fruits that can provoke hallucinogenic states or even death. The shape of the root is reminiscent of the human body, making it a magic and ritual remedy. When dug up, the mandrake was said to emit a deadly scream. As long as it was cherished and cared for (bathed, freshly dressed, fed), it brought happiness to the owner. If it was neglected, it screamed so loudly that it had to be taken care of immediately. The analogy with a child is obvious. Agrippa of Nettesheim associated the homunculus, i.e. the human being artificially created by alchemists, with the mandrake. In the legend “Caiumarath”, the mandrake was the first child of Adam and therefore our ancestor. The mandrake or the “womandrake” (in the Middle Ages, a female and a male plant were thought to exist) spoke and revealed the future, and by doing so she/he blurred the boundary between object and subject.
Michel Maffesoli, Der Schatten des Dionysos, 1986
Agrippa von Nettesheim, De occulta philosophia, 1-36, 1510