Betwixt the loud sounds and dirty lights of an U-Bahn station, a softly-lit vitrine, displaying a beautifully adorned cake lures in a passing audience.

Mousa, a delicate and curious character dressed in white lace and flowers, enters the platform, guided by a tall, dark figure. Her eyes catch the display with a peaceful hunger, and she becomes fascinated, asking her mentor to allow her into the glass box. As she steps in, Mousa is no longer one with the public, but part of the untouchable display. She can no longer hear or see anything besides the cake and her own reflection inside the glass. For the duration of 30 minutes, Mousa admires, looks and craves the cake with everything in her, projecting onto the audience her struggle with hesitation and temptation.

As the suspense heightens and the time grows, all of the things she desires in the world begin to be embodied by this cake. Time passes and she can no longer resist; the character begins to almost involuntarily devour it, disrupting all sense of composure. She claws freely at the aesthetic piece of pleasure as though something else drives her. Entirely unreceptive to her surroundings, Mousa slowly destroys what she thought she would enjoy. As the act of crazed consumption comes to its end, she collapses in shame, and is left to face the demolished cake and her audience.

This performance explores an area of social taboo as well as non-verbal interaction, and seeks to challenge a sense of reality only experienced after reaching failure in one’s search for climax. The cake stands as a metaphor for the embodiment of misplaced desire of the individual. Mousa is my representation of the vulnerability and susceptibility found in all of us. I use my performances as poetic statements about personal observations in life. I chose this particular setting for this piece in order to give the audience freedom in staying or leaving, reflecting Mousa’s own challenge of fight-or-flight.