FERRET ROULETTE with HORMEAD ROADERS

To kick start our Alternative Village Fete we held a game of FERRET ROULETTE, a project devised by artist Hermione Spriggs in collaboration with Kyle Berlin & Sue Lloyd (Yarm Ferret Rescue).

FERRET ROULETTE is a mythic device that uses the wisdom of ferrets to divine answers to human questions.

Ferret Roulette adopts the basic principle of a game played with ferrets at rural agricultural fairs. In Ferret Roulette, a ferret is placed in a central chamber and emerges at random from one of six exits. Members of the public then place bets on which exit the ferret will choose.

Formally, Ferret Roulette resembles the millenia-old practice of ferreting for rabbits, where ferrets are sent into rabbit warrens and appear again from one of many rabbit holes on the surface. Due to their hunting behaviour in the wild, ferrets have an instinctual love of dark places and anything resembling a rabbit hole. Male ferrets are known as ‘hobs’, and share this name with Yorkshire hobs or hobgoblins – trickster spirits known for their mischievous behaviour who inhabit and animate the land around the North York Moors.

In our version of the game, instead of betting for money, the ferret performed as guides, helping to generate poetic responses to a series of questions posed by local residents.

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Videos shot and edited by Jack Finn Taylor for Gerry’s Pompeii (c)