Varanasi est l’épicentre de la foi hindoue, semblable à Jérusalem pour les chrétiens et La Mecque pour les musulmans. Dans cette série, Joey L se concentre sur ces hommes de foi qui consacrent leur vie à la poursuite de la libération spirituelle. Leur réalité est dictée par l’esprit, et non pas par des objets matériels.
Manipulation is something everybody experiences every day—good or bad, conscious or unconscious. For NYC-based artist Mark Fox, manipulation has permeated his entire body of work and is a theme he continues to explore in his latest…
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by Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi The move to marry modernity with sacred symbols is gaining momentum in both religious and design circles. This démarche has been a welcomed challenge for design collective Greece Is For Lovers (GIFL), as…
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by Sabine Zetteler Never one to shy away from making a bold statement, ceramics artist Barnaby Barford’s new exhibition “The Seven Deadly Sins”—currently showing at London’s David Gill Gallery—addresses biblical maladies in a tellingly ironic form of ornate mirrors. In interpreting the Catholic church’s long-condemned weaknesses and literally reflecting…
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While the first amendment clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” many Americans are concerned about the potential change in White House administration this November, and what it would mean for marriage equality. As a Mormon, Mitt Romney is openly against same-sex marriage…
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Graffiti styling, religious symbolism and Afro-Brazilian influences from Stephan Doitschinoff
The son of an Evangelical minister, Stephan Doitschinoff is a Brazilian artist with a penchant for religious iconography and bright graphic styling. His scope includes installation and video, though Doitschinoff is perhaps best known for his paintings and public works. Opening tonight, “Herie, Hodie, Cras” (Latin for “Yesterday, Today,…
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Swedish designers in Hong Kong explore sustainability as religion
It’s easy to become “design blind” at the world’s biggest design exhibition, I Saloni, and those rushing around to see the blockbuster names run the risk of missing the small gems hidden throughout. One such discovery for us was Boris, a Hong Kong-based company born of Swedish ex-pats trying to live as close to their suppliers and manufacturers as possible. Founders Katarina Ivarsson and Anna Karlsson started the company in 2009 and have since developed a unique style of work blending design, sustainability and technology in a way which is fast becoming the signature hallmark of Scandinavian output—even if it is based in another country.
This year the company presented its new collection, the Enlightenment Series, which explores the notions of multi-ethnicity and the part played by religion and spirituality in our contemporary lives while also focusing on sustainability. “In the light of different beliefs and with mixed religion touch points we present this series,” says Karlsson. “Religion is about believing in something and this is our reason for the religious perspective—personally, we believe in sustainability and want to show this devotion in our products.”
“We wanted to ask what happens when you dig deeper into the subjects of sustainability and religion from a design perspective,” adds Ivarsson. “What are we actually devoted to? Consumerism or sustainism? How important are the objects around us from a spiritual perspective and can we as designers fabricate spiritual products’?”
With the symbolic collection the company has paid close attention to the sustainable details for each piece, whether through efficient energy consumption during production or proper selection of materials. Each piece follows a specific train of spiritual thought—for example, the Seven Piece Mirror centers on a number with many spiritual connotations, from the seven chakras in Buddhism, to Christianity’s seven days of creation, to the more literal like the number of years bad luck you’ll get on smashing a mirror. Boris gives each piece of the mirror an added aesthetic touch to tie in the design elements found in places of worship. On a more directly visual level, the rosary necklace adds its form to the Rosary Lamp, with the beads adding structure to the otherwise slack form.
The Confession Box places a modern twist on the Catholic confessional, combining traditional materials with advanced technology. “When you place your phone into the box it will automatically recharge via inductive charging while also making a backup of your information. By doing so we mimic a procedure not far from the classic ritual of lightening ones load and coming clean,” explains Karlsson.
The ruffled Omikuji carpet references the fortune strips of paper left at Shinto shrines. “Inspired by the process of collecting prayers, we tied 1764 wishes together when we made the carpet,” says Ivarsson.
This combination of strong conceptual narrative and more accessible aesthetic and technique attributes sets Boris apart. For more information on the Enlightenment Series and other collections, visit the website.
Following last week’s announcement that writer Alain de Botton plans to build a series of temples for atheists, here are some more images of the first structure planned for the City of London.
Each centimetre of the hollow stone tower’s 46 metre height will represent a million years of the earth’s existence so far, while a millimetre-thick band of gold around the base will denote how long humans have been part of that history.
Images of the Temple to Perspective and other temples designed by architects Tom Greenall and Jordan Hodgson are included in de Botton’s latest book, Religion for Atheists – find out more in our earlier Dezeen Wire.
Since we announced news of the proposals last week, Guardian critic Steve Rose has described them as unlikely to “convince any religious adherent to cross over”, while Dezeen readers found them “beautiful”, ”perplexing” and “a waste of time” in equal measures – join the debate here.
Here’s some more text from Tom Greenall:
Temple to Perspective
Standing 46-metres tall and in the heart of the City of London, the temple represents the entire history of life on earth: each centimetre of its height equates to one million years of life. One metre from the ground, a single line of gold – no more than a millimetre thick – represents the entire existence of humankind. A visit to the temple is intended to leave one with a renewed sense of perspective.
A Jewish purification ritual takes place in the pools of this Mexico City bathhouse.
To be acknowledged by the Jewish faith, Mikve baths must be constructed following a strict set of criteria that specifies what materials can be used and the precise layout.
Mexican firm Pascal Arquitectos originally constructed a small bathhouse on the site twenty years earlier, which they have now replaced with the larger Mikve Rajel building.
A large white-glass box sits atop the new timber panelled structure, containing a first-floor reception.
Beyond this, a sequence of washrooms surround the two Mikve pools, providing places for each visitor to prepare for their purification.
Once each person has immersed themself entirely in the pool they leave the Mikve through a separate door.
For more architecture connected with the Jewish religion, see our earlier stories about a meditation house also by Pascal Arquitectos and a community centre covered in glazed ceramic tiles.
Photography is by Víctor Benítez.
The following text is from the Pascal Arquitectos.
Mikve Rajel
The Mikve is the ritual bath of purification in the Jewish religion. It is possible diving in fresh spring water, or in a place specially dedicated to it, fed by rainwater that must be collected, stored and communicated to the vessel that is called a Mikve.
All this must be made under a very strict set of rules related to the degree of purity of water. These rules also include the use of materials, architectural measures and water treatment.
The Mikveh is mostly used by women once a month, and for the brides to be, for conversions and certain holidays.
There is also a Mikveh used for the purification of all elements of kitchen and food preparation.
Mikveh is known to represent the womb, so when a person enters the pool, it’s like to return to it, and when it emerges, as if reborn. In this way, you get a totally new and purified condition.
Its symbolism represents at the same time, a tomb, therefore, can not be performed the ritual bath in a tub, but must be built directly into the ground.
The fact that illustrates the Mikveh much as the woman’s womb and at the same time as the grave, becomes not a contradiction, since both are places where you can breathe, and at the same time are endpoints of the cycle of life.
This project has a special meaning for us. 20 years ago we designed Mikve. Rajel, it was the first “designed” Mikve, there were other such places but not very fortunate, dirty and neglected, community members were not going any longer, and the ritual was dissapearing, which according to the Jewish religion is the most important.
When designing the mikvah Rachel we really did not know which would be the consequences of its actual use, how the event was to going to unfold. It was so successful that all the communities began to make their own Mikves, but more than mystical spaces they seemed like luxury spas.
Click above for larger image
Today 20 years later we realize that the event for the brides becomes a big celebration, and that there was not room for all the assistance, plus 20 years of use is also influenced by architectural trends of the moment puts it out of time and so we have to destroy it to create a new proposal that meets the changing needs , both aesthetic and use.
The reception becomes a big box of white light, suggesting purity. No columns, just delicate natural aluminum vertical beams and white glass, floors in Santo Tomas marble, modern and sleek white sofas and starring up the wall and turning on the ceiling, a mural of the artist Saul Kaminer.
The corridors around the building giving access to washing bathrooms and from these in to the Mikve, it must be a separate access and exit, as you enter impure and exit pure, , contrasting the dark on the floor and walls and ceilings in white enhancing the visual drama with recesed lighting .
The bathrooms are marble-lined in Santo. Thomas unpolished and polished white glass, stainless steel furniture and Arabescato marble, from here we enter to the Mikve, tall space with a gable roof of which is collected water to be used in the ritual. Cumaru wood paneling, marble floors and St. Thomas lined pool.
Interior Design: Pascal Arquitectos, Carlos Pascal and Gerard Pascal
Construction: Rafael Salame
Furniture: Pascal Arquitectos
Address: Lomas de Tecamachalco, Cuidad de México, México
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| Tamina Thermal Baths by Smolenicky & Partner | Kanebo Sensai Spa by Gwenael Nicolas | Therme Wien by 4a Architekten |
Alphabetize your vice with this sinful set of dictionaries
Naughty Deadly Dictionaries, based on the Seven Deadly Sins. Jennifer Wood has compiled the collection to elucidate gluttony, wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, and envy—each given its own cloth-bound reference tome with the look and feel of an antique. Consider it a portable, curated distillation of the Oxford English Dictionary that you don’t need a magnifying glass to read. These books may not make you good, but they will teach you the proper lexicon for being bad.
We got to sample Gluttony: A Dictionary for the Indulgent here at Cool Hunting, and after a coincidental deep-fried office lunch, picked our favorite entries. Interspersed throughout the definitions are quotations from famous rhetoricians, weighing in on the sin at hand. Benjamin Franklin reflects on the vice of gluttony (and, unwittingly, the obesity epidemic) when he writes, “In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.” Best of all, this handy guide arms us with a host of ways to call out our portly pals—or chow hounds, gourmands, sybarites, trenchermen and wastrels, as we now call them.
The Deadly Dictionaries are gift-ready this holiday season, so go ahead and indulge the eloquent sinner in your life on Amazon.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
