Coerced Confession

www.koronczi.hu/confession/

Endre Koronczi, four channel video installation, 2007-2008
Venue: Godot Galéria (Budapest, VII. Madách I. u. 8.)
tel.: (+36-1) 322 52 72 . www.godot.hu
On view: 15 April-10 May 2008.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 10:00-18:00, Saturday 10:00-13:00

There is a word which is most difficult to utter, yet we feel it is most important that it be uttered. Which might be it?
Two times five video interviews in which Endre Koronczi asks his subjects to confess their love to him in front of the camera.

But is it possible to obey this request? What conditions need to be met? What sort of motivation is necessary? How do existing relations influence the feasibility of this request, and if the confession succeeds, what impact does it have on those relationships?
Some people are incapable of uttering this word during their whole life. Write it down, perhaps they can, and it may not appear so problematic to circumscribe it - but to utter it just seems impossible. Others, on the opposite extreme, use it with unreasonable frequency, perhaps to relieve the unbearable weight of the phrase by its profuseness.

"You know, everyone is in dire need of love. You can't live in a complete deprivation of love. But love can appear in many forms and extents. People, in turn, differ in how much and how intense love they require; and I might belong to the class of people who need a little more than average. So what I'd like to ask you, for the sake of completing this work of art, is to make an attempt at a love confession. I'd like you to utter that seemingly almost unspeakable phrase: "I love you", and I'd also like you to add a few sentences to make it sound more authentic.

This isn't some play-acting, and the goal is not to make you feel awkward. I know it isn't easy, and if I'm not mistaken, you wish I went to hell right now. Still, I implore you to try it. Camera's rolling."