The heart of the multimedia spatial installation “Pleasure is thy weakness” is the poem “Confession”, which came into being by collaging cut-apart words from piano scores into new meaning. The sacred songs of classical music, which I selected, range from Baroque to Romanticism.
The composition created through the rearrangement was put in playable arrangement by a composer for flute, guitar, and double bass, and performed with students of the Robert Schumann Hochschule.

The poem and the composition were printed separately in two publications. In one publication, the score was printed in the other, the poem. By placing the publications in two different rooms of the installation, the possibility of a dialogue was created. Architecturally, the installation was conceived in reference to a confessional booth, since confession is the subject of the poem. The arranged composition was played in the background.

In “Pleasure is thy weakness” I refer to the biblical motif “Noli me tangere”, which literally translates as “Do not touch me.” Noli me tangere names the scene in which Mary Magdalene visits the tomb of Jesus after his crucifixion in order to mourn at his grave. There, she encounters him as the resurrected one. As she tries to touch him, to reassure herself of his presence, Jesus speaks the words: “Do not touch me. I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to the disciples and proclaim my resurrection.”

The poem “Confession” draws upon this motif by formulating a fictional monologue that expresses a struggle of faith without proof, from the perspective of Mary Magdalene.