20.02.06 Confess.or, one to many confessions.
Confess.or by Gerhard Schwoiger is one of the ample range of 'ReReligion' projects. It is an interactive installation that places a basically lay interpretation on the catholic sacrament. The confession, instead of being a private request of absolution given to the mediator between the man and the god, here becomes a public act, since many listeners will judge, in all fairness, if the sinner will be absolved or not. The individual consciousness of what is good and what is evil is self-sufficient, while the church's ritual apparatus is replaced by the spectacle constructed with new technologies. In a gloomy contemplation atmosphere the gestures are identical, but with a different ritual and sense. The confession is whispered to the machine, got down on your knees on a lighted pillow. Suddenly this acknowledgment is followed by the chorus of all the previous confessions, forming an indistinct litany. Some lights are scattered around the room, similar to candles, and they have speakers hidden for reproducing the sounds. Each of them plays one single voice. The sacral formula represented is vague, and we probably don't need confessions in time of reality show, moreover if we lack the divine punishment. Anyway, for the crafty ones that wanna try, the confessions are available from the website as podcasts.
Francesca Colasante