Date

Spring 2005

Place

Cambridge, MA

Medium

Public space installation involving wearables, executed in collaboration with local Islamic communities

Design context

Interrogative Design Workshop, MIT led by Krzysztof Wodizcko

Credits

Concept, idea and design: © Azra Akšamija, International Patent Pending

Video Credits

© Azra Akšamija 2005

Directed and edited by: Azra Akšamija Camera: Andreas Mayer

Prayer participants: Abdurrahman O. Kandil, Mariam Kandil, Nadeem A. Mazen, Anonymus participant at Revere Beach 

Photo Credits

© Azra Akšamija and Jörg Mohr 2005

Photo: Jörg Mohr

Light: Martin Zoigner, Andreas Mayer, Reno Rieger

Studio and Equipment: Dopplinger Light & GripVienna

Support by

Khadija Zinnenburg Carroll, Rahkeen Gray, Andreas Mayer, Kyong Park, Marjetica Potrc, Nasser Rabbat, Irvin C. Schick, Krzysztof Wodizcko, Interrogative Design Workshop, MIT Muslim Students Association

Nomadic Mosque

The Nomadic Mosque project explores various ways of negotiating spatial relationships between Islamic traditions and modernity in the US and Western Europe. Through the design of wearable mosques, clothes that can be transformed into prayer-rugs, the project examines the notion of the mosque space and investigates its formal limits. Whereas it respects religious restrictions, the Nomadic Mosque aims to redefine traditional forms and functions of mosques in the contemporary context. Mosques built throughout history are only interpretations of an original idea which is conceptual in its origin. While the notion of origins continues to justify the very existence of any religion, with the passing of time each religion develops through its many different interpretations, all claiming universal truth. These thoughts thus contribute to an architectural interpretation of the religion of Islam, understanding it not as a static concept, which it often claims to be, but rather as a dynamic process that allows change in time and place.

The project reinterprets the concept of the World as a Mosque, as defined by the Prophet Mohammed, as wearable architecture. The Nomadic Mosque can thus be seen as a minimal-volume mosque, whose design is based on individual needs and experiences of the worshipper. It is a device to transform any secular space into a prayer space. Not only does the wearable mosque accommodate the liturgical necessities, but also acts as a prosthetic device of the worshipper communicating his/her prayers: problems, needs and desires. The project entails a catalogue of various designs for a wearable mosques and a 10 min. video that involved collaboration with Muslim students at MIT and that shows ritual prayer in various public spaces.  Allowing for the new young Islamic community to speak out, the Nomadic Mosque becomes both, a pro-vocative statement for religious revival and against prejudice. However, this statement is dependent on the process of wearing, which can only happen if Muslims themselves recognize the basic ideological elasticity of Islam, which not only allows, but also calls for its own change and progress.