Dieter Roth
Entenjagd

The limited editioned object Entenjagd (Duck Hunt) consists of a flat wooden box that can be closed with a lid and is filled with chocolate. A precisely defined number of small plastic toy figures – chickens, ducks and geese and some knight figures – have been placed in the chocolate mass. The scenery in the box depicts a duck hunt, as the title of the edition suggests. However, this takes place under humoristically inverted circumstances – because the proportions of the plastic figures turn the much smaller knight figures into hunted ducks. They wade and fight their way through the chocolate, on which the feathered creatures swim unchallenged as if on a lake. The depicted scene is humorously and subtly juxtaposed with the interpretation of the title, and it becomes unclear how the title Entenjagd is to be read.
The individual editions vary in the arrangement of the figures placed in the chocolate. As in other works in which Roth uses organic materials, the chocolate here is subject to an ageing process in which changes in the material become apparent. The numbering and signature can be found on the side of the light-colored wooden box.
Entenjagd is similar in conception and production method to the edition Familienbad (1969/72) – Dieter Roth’s contribution to the rolling cabinet En Bloc (EB20). In contrast to the humorous and light-hearted Entenjagd, the figures are completely covered in chocolate.
The limited edition Entenjagd is offered for the first time at the 4th International Spring Fair 1972 in Berlin at a price of 350 DM.
Text: Birgit Eusterschulte