hys.serie

Gameplay:
I introduce myself to the visitor and introduce the oracle. Din BesucherNin questions the oracle. I then collect the teeth and pour them onto the oracle blanket from a certain height with momentum. The oracle’s answer results from the position of the teeth in relation to each other and on the playing field. I translate this according to fixed rules. At the end of the conversation, I write the core of the message on a piece of paper and give it to the visitor.


During a walk in the forest I came across the skull bone of a boar. The front part of the skull had been cut off with a chainsaw to bring home the tusks as a trophy. What could not be shown off remained in the forest. A few metres further on, lay the lower jaw of a young boar. Fascinated by its teeth, I exposed them. I remembered the „fearsomely large teeth“ of the Holle, which I had always imagined as wild boar tusks. With this association I began my research.
In fact, the pig has long been considered a symbol of divination abilities because it is so closely connected to the earth and thus the underworld. Fertility gods often rode pigs or were depicted with their tusks. Sometimes they also had the pig in their epithet. They were strong, independent figures who gave and took life, spun fates and even made predictions. There were even pig oracles and pig herders were considered clairvoyant in early European myth.
With the spread of patriarchal values and monotheistic religions, the significance of the pig and the gods associated with it changed. The strong and faithful animal that gave fertility and wisdom became a sluggish, dirty crop destroyer. The goddesses who gave and took life while they spun the fate of the people were also demonised and their festivals reinterpreted.
From „hys“, the ancient Greek word for pig, also „hystera“ (the womb) and „Hagazussa“(the fence rider) are derived. In fact, both childbearing individuals and those on the fringes of society are often portrayed as problematic. The diagnosis of hysteria, which was mainly given to wayward women, is an example of this.

The oracle from the teeth of the freshman picks up on the old myths and in the present becomes a mirror of the people who encounter it. In doing so, it deliberately breaks with the omnipresent demand for reason, conformity and predictability. It leaves room for chance and tells of individual paths towards self-empowerment.

Bei einem Waldspaziergang stieß ich auf den Schädelknochen eines Ebers. Der vordere Teil des Schädels war mit einer Kettensäge abgetrennt worden, um die Hauer als Trophäe einzustecken. Womit man sich nicht rühmen konnte, blieb im Wald. Ein paar Meter weiter, lag der Unterkiefer eines Frischlings. Fasziniert von dessen Zähnen legte ich sie frei. Ich erinnerte mich an die „furchteinflößend großen Zähne“ der Holle, die ich mir immer wie Wilschweinhauer vorgestellt hatte. Mit dieser Assoziation begann ich meine Recherche.
Tatsächlich galt das Schwein lange als Sinnbild für weissagende Fähigkeiten, weil es so eng mit der Erde und somit der Unterwelt verbunden ist. Oft ritten Fruchtbarkeitsgött’innen auf Schweinen oder wurden mit deren Hauern dargestellt. Mitunter trugen sie das Schwein auch im Beinamen. Sie waren starke, unabhängige Figuren, die Leben gaben und nahmen, Schicksale spannen und gar Vorhersagen trafen. Es gab sogar eigene Schweineorakel und Schweinehirt’innen galten im früheuropäischen Mythos als hellsehend.
Mit der Verbreitung patriarchaler Werte und monotheistischer Religionen veränderte sich die Bedeutung des Schweines und der ihm verbundenen Göttt’innen. Aus dem starken und treuen Tier, das Fruchtbarkeit und Weisheit schenkte, wurde ein träger, schmutziger Erntevernichter. Gött’innen, die Leben gaben und nahmen während sie das Schicksal der Menschen spannen wurden gleichfalls dämonisiert und ihre Feste umgedeutet.
Von „hys“, dem altgriechischen Wort für Schwein, leiten sich auch „hystera“ (die Gebärmutter) und „Hagazussa“(die Zaunreiter’in) ab. Tatsächlich werden sowohl gebährfähige Personen, als auch jene, die am Rande der Gesellschaft stehen, häufig als problembehaftet dargestellt. Die Diagnose Hysterie, mit der vor allem eigenwillige Frauen belegt wurden, ist ein Beispiel dafür.

Die Zeichnung auf der Rückseite des Schädels, folgt der Form und Struktur des Knochens. Sie zeigt eine Figurine, die ihre Vulva und Vagina herzeigt.

During a walk in the forest I came across the skull bone of a boar. The front part of the skull had been cut off with a chainsaw to bring home the tusks as a trophy. What could not be shown off remained in the forest. A few metres further on, lay the lower jaw of a young boar. Fascinated by its teeth, I exposed them. I remembered the „fearsomely large teeth“ of the Holle, which I had always imagined as wild boar tusks. With this association I began my research.
In fact, the pig has long been considered a symbol of divination abilities because it is so closely connected to the earth and thus the underworld. Fertility gods often rode pigs or were depicted with their tusks. Sometimes they also had the pig in their epithet. They were strong, independent figures who gave and took life, spun fates and even made predictions. There were even pig oracles and pig herders were considered clairvoyant in early European myth.
With the spread of patriarchal values and monotheistic religions, the significance of the pig and the gods associated with it changed. The strong and faithful animal that gave fertility and wisdom became a sluggish, dirty crop destroyer. The goddesses who gave and took life while they spun the fate of the people were also demonised and their festivals reinterpreted.
From „hys“, the ancient Greek word for pig, also „hystera“ (the womb) and „Hagazussa“(the fence rider) are derived. In fact, both childbearing individuals and those on the fringes of society are often portrayed as problematic. The diagnosis of hysteria, which was mainly given to wayward women, is an example of this.

The drawing on the back of the skull follows the shape and structure of the bone. It shows a figurine displaying their vulva and vagina.