Remote Confession Kit

1 week project with Andreas

This brief was about taking "old", "new" technology and reapplying it in a niche market. How can a priest use a fax in his work? We were focusing on the occupation itself and the priests life and the objects, technology and services he uses, and came up with the Remote confession kit for catholic priests.

Fax machine
The advantages of the fax machine lie in its ability
- to send written messages over a big distance very quickly
- To output almost an exact copy of the original

Facts on thermal paper
Exposure to humidity
"The samples exposed to high humidy suffered image fading after 24 hours. The fading became progressively worise over prolonged exposure (up to 10 days)."

Heat sensivity
"Slight darkening was noticed at 70 degrees, then up to complete darkening at 100 degrees."

"A short Research Project into the Permanence of Thermal Fax Papers"
Cheryl Jackson, Preservation Services, Australien Archives ACT

Situation / Problem
Someone feels the urge to cenfess but for some reason the parish Priest is not available. (vacation, visiting friends in Findland...)

Solution
The confession will be written down on a piece of paper which the will be faxed to the priest.

On remote location
The prist recieves the fax via mobile phone.

He opens the kit, puts on the bow and takes out the bible.

The fax in the light sin drawer vanishes fastest because it is aided by heat.
The vanishing of medium sins are aided by humidity and vanishes faster than the heavy sins which is not aided at all.

The priest reads the fax carefully and decides into which category (light, medium, heavy) the sin belongs to.

He folds the paper and puts it into the appropiate drawer where it stays until the print has vanished.

Meanwhile
The sinner has to deal with his bad consience and can't get away with a few Ave Marias.

After some time
Depending on which drawer the fax has been put in, the print on the paper has finally vanished. The priest faxes back the empty letter.

Finally
The sinner recieves the empty fax/"reciept" as sign of forgiveness. HE IS RELIEVED.

A fax containing a light sin has vanished aided by the heating element in the drawer.