Unravelling Frequencies

Unravelling Frequencies translates scientific experiments on artificially induced haunting, conducted at EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne), into a series of artistic interventions. It centres on infrasonic frequencies below 20 Hz, imperceptible to the ear yet palpable to the body. Generated by natural phenomena such as storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, these low-frequency waves can trigger unease, activate fight-or-flight responses, and even induce 'haunting' sensations. The project unfolds through soundscapes based on infrasonic field recordings made at sites with unresolved histories. Their ghostly reverberations restore presence to women’s forgotten pasts. Complementary websites weave historical and scientific texts together with myths and folklore, allowing these “haunted” histories to be re-examined through a contemporary lens.

The project Splatter conjures the spirits of victims of Switzerland’s manic hunt for “witches” and connects their persecution to the belief in the toxic power of menstrual blood. The country was among the first in Europe to hold witch trials, and it played a significant role in the creation of the Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of Witches, which served as a guide for identifying and prosecuting those accused of witchcraft. Predominantly female victims were burned at the stake in rural areas, mountain villages, and cities alike, spanning all language regions. Today, this history is largely forgotten because these victims' names were removed from bureaucratic records, their ashes dispersed, and their families forced to disavow them. How do we remember those whose names have been lost to history? Splatter documents my search for their traces as I travel across Switzerland to visit the places where their blood once stained the ground.

The Infrasonic Soundscape consists of field recordings capturing the silent echoes of sites where the blood of those accused of witchcraft was shed, including torture chambers, execution sites, and prison cells. With each visit to a site, I collect new infrasonic recordings. Specialized speakers transmit low-frequency sound waves that conjure the spectral presences of these women into the exhibition space. A new version of the Infrasonic Soundscape premiers on the occasion of 'Frequency: Dark and Stormy' at HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel.

Left: Full moon over the site possibly used for the execution and burrying of alleged witches in Poschiavo, Grisons. The place was kept closely secret at the time, only its approximate location is known today.

1. Latex sculpture with an encapsulated replica of Guglia, the needle used in interrogations to identify the presence of the devil in an accused woman's blood.

2. Dungeon wall where individuals accused of witchcraft were suspended by their previously broken arms, Pretorio Vicosoprano, canton of Grisons.

3. Soil at the execution pillars of Vicosoprano, canton of Grisons.

4. Today's recreational area Le Guintzet, where more than 300 women accused of witchcraft were burned alive, Fribourg, canton of Fribourg.

5. Tour des Sorcières, where those accused of witchcraft were imprisoned and tortured, downtown Sion, canton of Valais.

6. Torture pillar, used to identify the stigma diabolicum, Château de Chillon, canton of Vaud. Most women did not survive the procedure, even in the rare cases they were found innocent.

7. Vinyard, Arlesheim, canton of Basel-Landschaft, where two women allegedly celebrated the witches sabbath with the devil. They were imprisoned in Basel's Spalentor and later executed.

8. View from the postern, where executions took place, Château de Chillon, canton of Vaud.

9. One of the vials containing my 'menotoxic' blood.

Index

Introduction
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The Torturer's Needle, your Devil's Mark
Daniele Papacella, Historian and Journalist

Malleus Maleficarum Helveticarum
Prof. Dr. Claudia Opitz-Belakhal,
Emerita for Medieval and Early Modern History

Witch Purge in Vicosoprano
Renata Giovanoli-Semadeni,
Oral History Guide of Bregaglia Valley

Menotoxic Tulips
An Auto-Experiment

Paranormal Beliefs, Menotoxins and Witches
Peter Brugger,
Professor of Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry

The Science of Sanguineous Flows
Dr. Andrea Gloor, Immunologist

Central to the identification of witches was the stigma diabolicum, or devil’s mark. The installation includes a reproduction of the torture instrument once used to locate this mark. I spoke with the historians Daniele Papacella, Prof. Claudia Opitz-Belakhal, the neuroscientist Prof. Peter Brugger, and Dr. Andrea Gloor, an immunologist, in an attempt to better understand what happened during this process. Their interviews can be accessed via the navigation menu at the top of this page.

The Swiss Alpine village of Vicosoprano in the Bregaglia Valley, canton of Grisons, is one of the few places where remains of witch trial infrastructure persist. In the nearby woods stand the Execution Pillars of Vicosoprano, the site where women accused of witchcraft were executed. I spoke to oral history guide Renata Giovanoli-Semadeni to learn more about this dark chapter of Bregaglia Valley's - and Switzerland's - history.

In 1920, the immunologist Dr. Schick provided the first "scientific proof" of a meanwhile debunked theory laid out by Swiss Renaissance physician and alchemist Paracelsus. It stated that menstrual blood produced a toxic component called 'Menotoxin' that was transmitted through a menstruating woman's touch. I recreated Dr. Schick's experiment using my own 'menotoxic' blood, and addressed the misguided science behind 'Menotoxin' in the conversations with Prof. Claudia Opitz-Belakhal, Prof. Peter Brugger, and Dr. Andrea Gloor.

„...von Excrementen die sie Menstruum heissen / dem kein Gifft auff Erden gleichen mag / schädlicher vnd strenger (...) da nichts schädlichers innen ist / als diß Excrement der Frawen.“

*„...from excrements which they call menstruum / which no poison on earth can resemble / more harmful and more severe (...) since there is nothing more harmful / than this blood excrement of women.“

Opus Paramirum, Liber quartus de Matrice, 1531.
Paracelsus, physician and philosopher

„...daß das Gift im Blute zirkuliert, ist also sichergestellt (...) Diese Tatsache ist deswegen interessant, weil wir damit rechnen müssen, daß das Gift in alle Organe gelangen kann; interessanterweise wird es dann mit dem Schweiße in der Haut ausgeschieden.“*

*„...it is therefore confirmed that the poison circulates in the blood (...) This fact is interesting because we have to assume that the poison can get into all organs; Interestingly enough, it is then excreted with sweat through the skin.“

Das Menstruationsgift, Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, 1920.
Prof. Dr. Béla Schick, Immunologist

Archaeology of Impurity

This series synthesizes a range of organic substances linked to the longstanding myth that women’s blood is impure. This belief, rooted in traditional lore, found support in the writings of Paracelsus and remained the subject of scientific speculation, though never verified, until the early 1980s. The idea of menstrual blood as toxic described it as a gas that spread through the female body during menstruation, a toxin thought to be transferable through touch. Liquid latex contains the same supposed toxic element and therefore serves as an apt material for preserving organic matter associated with the notion of female impurity. These materials include blood taken from my arm during menstruation, along with plants and soils collected from Swiss sites where women accused of witchcraft were tortured and executed. The installation’s subdued illumination, combining ultraviolet and natural light, draws attention to the persistence of superstition within these historically toxic beliefs.