Michael Mersereau

Fear Eats the Soul, 2014

Installation, two emergency lights plus pirate Radio

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Fear Eats the Soul is a sound and light composition displaying the full dialogue of Angst Essen Seele Auf, (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, 1974) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, converted to Morse code. Using emergency alarm lights and audio FM broadcast, subtitles are processed through software which creates a dialog between the two main characters, Elsi and Ali, in Morse Code. Unable to connect as lovers over cultural prejudices, the older working class German woman and the younger immigrant from Morocco turn to lights that can only talk from a distance.