Hühnerfüße für schwarze Magie

clay, plastic

2023

​

This work’s framework unfolds against a backdrop of shifting medical landscapes, where alternative practices to clinical medicine were stigmatized and conducted in relative secrecy during the era of socialism. Yugoslavia‘s modernization ideology and efficient public health system popularized biomedical definitions of health, illness, and the body. However, the 1990s brought war and subsequent peace, leading to a proliferation of medical services that entered the marketplace. 

 

In a world of ever-evolving ideologies, “Hühnerfüße für schwarze Magie” explores the web of rituals and mysticism as they have adapted to the march of capitalism. It embodies the relentless pursuit of both health and enchantment and contemplates the journey of traditions and beliefs, once deeply rooted in communal practices, now packaged and sold on the shelves of consumerism. Chicken feet, typically associated with folkloric rituals and symbolism, are depicted as a commodity in the guise of packaged meat from a supermarket, displayed within the sterile, fluorescent-lit confines of a supermarket, force us to confront the paradox of tradition packaged for mass consumption. It explores the resilience of cultural practices in the face of a rapidly changing world and reflects our own complicity in this transformation, urging us to recognize our role in this evolution of traditions.

.