This booklet is the final edition of an artistic project first released in Berlin in April 2024, during the peak of the Gaza bombings. The work was initially a public-facing sound installation: a simulated radio interview broadcast at Künstlerhaus Bethanien and distributed through QR codes in public spaces across the city.

In this work, I utilized the intersection of sacred texts and political speech to give the dialogue a poetic, visceral quality. This biblical semiotics is reflected in the naming of the characters and the program:

Samuel Quill (The Interviewer): His name draws from the biblical Samuel, the prophet and judge who acted as the intermediary between the divine and the political rulers (kings). Combined with “Quill”—the scribe’s tool—he represents the sacred witness and chronicler who records the “truth” of power.

Peter Mystique (The Subject): Peter (the “Rock”) evokes the foundation of the Church and the “everyman” disciple. Paired with “Mystique,” he represents the solid, yet enigmatic, nature of political authority—a “Rock” of power that hides behind a veil of mystery and secrecy.

Confession Room: This is the simulated radio program (or imaginary podcast) introduced by Quill. It is rooted in the Catholic concept of the confessional, a space designed for the admission of sins and the seeking of absolution. By placing retired politicians in this “room,” the project treats political history as a matter of moral accountability.

The foundation of this piece is rooted in collected statistical data, which I have reconstructed and directed into the form of an “honest” interview. The excessive honesty and the not-so-unrealistic pessimism of the conversation separate it from its real-world counterparts, creating a space that is simultaneously imaginary and undeniably true.

This final booklet edition contains:

• The Interview Text: The full transcript of the original audio.
• In-text References: The data and sources used to construct the dialogue.
• Yellow Boxes: Concrete, informal facts and minor details interspersed between the interview texts to provide deeper context.
• Audio Access: The original audio is still available online via the QR code found at the beginning of this booklet.