Survival Mosque
10 photomontages (2005)
Survival Mosque addresses the politics of visibility of Muslim minority groups living in the contemporary USA. The survival kit contains elements for self-protection such as the American-flag façade that communicates patriotism, gas-mask, nose filters, and an umbrella for protecting one’s back. The mosque is self-sufficient; the prayer rug supplies its own energy source via photovoltaic solar cells. It also carries different liturgical and practical features such as washing solution for ablution and for cleaning when a Muslim gets spit on, ear plugs against insults, a copy of the American constitution with its amendment guaranteeing religious liberty, multi-religious amulets, a loudspeaker with speech on tolerance held by President George W. Bush, ablution slippers, Quran, educative books and diverse communication devices.
The Survival Mosque can be transformed into interactive bags that communicate with each other via Bluetooth technology. The bag-speakers can also function as muezzins, calling for prayer at particular prayer times. Informed by the Islamophobia faced by many Muslim communities in the US after 9-11, and inspired as well by the flag-burqas that were shown during protests in France, the design of the Survival Mosque is offered as protective infrastructure. Survival Mosque comments on the breakdown of the safeguards for religious liberty and the rise of intolerance vis-a-vis Muslims, and asks how these things could be reversed.
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Project produced as part of the Interrogative Design Workshop at MIT; Project advisor: Krzysztof Wodiczko
Materials: photomontages, vinyl print
Dimensions: variable
Concept and production: Azra Akšamija
Also see: Azra Akšamija, Mosque Manifesto: Propositions for Spaces of Coexistence. Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2015.