Answer Me, Pythia
- Stina Fors
“We have seen women in our own times sitting down and uttering words from their genitals. The Greek fathers tell us of one such woman who is supposed to be the Pythia, whose extremely unclean devil chose the vagina and anus part of the body to dwell.”
— Augustine Eugubinus
Western Front is pleased to present Answer Me, Pythia a performance by artist-in-residence Stina Fors. The work emerges from Fors’s research into the ancient Greek figure of the Pythia, the fabled soothsayer at the Temple of Apollo who delivered cryptic prophecies that compelled seekers to confront their own truths. Seated above the grave of Python, the great serpent for whom she was named, the Pythia became the most consulted voice in the ancient world. While it is debated whether she spoke plainly, in riddles, in a frenzy mediated by priests, or through direct transmission, what is clear is that for two thousand years, her seat at the centre of uncertainty held enormous power.
In the hour-long performance, Fors embodies the Pythia, seated with her ventriloquist dummy—a puppet who can say what she cannot. Working with ventriloquism as both an extended vocal technique and a historical system, Fors questions where the voice comes from who it belongs to, and what bodies it is allowed to pass through. She traces the displaced voice across millennia, following the axis along which it shifts from divine to demonic to pathologized to comedic. Through role-play and choreographic intervention, the authority between performer and puppet remains in flux as they move between the roles their relationship makes possible: child, lover, critic, rival, echo, force.
About the Artist
Stina Fors is a performance artist, choreographer, and experimental vocalist based in Vienna, Austria whose practice centres on the voice—its power, its failures, and everything that slips between the two. Working through solo and durational performance, she uses voice, rhythm, and embodiment to explore what happens when speech exceeds intention: as pressure, excess, noise, or unexpected revelation. Her performances are humorous, raw, and risky—built on improvisation, punk energy, and a genuine appetite for the unpredictable. She has presented work internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and the Gwangju Biennale, and is the recipient of the H13 Lower Austria Prize for Performance.
Accessibility
The Grand Luxe Hall is located on the second floor of Western Front, which is accessed by a flight of twenty-six stairs. While plans for a full building upgrade to facilitate access for wheelchair users are still underway, all events in the Grand Luxe Hall are made available virtually via high-quality livestream (link above). Further details about accessibility at Western Front can be found here.
The space can become warm during summer months—guests are encouraged to dress in light, comfortable layers.
Alternative formats: ASL interpretation is available upon request by emailing info@westernfront.ca.
Further details about accessibility at Western Front can be found here.
Acknowledgements
Presented with the support of the Government of Canada.
Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.
We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.