Nomadic Mosque explores various ways of negotiating spatial relationships between Islamic traditions and modernity in the United States and Western Europe by creating wearable mosques, clothing that can be transformed into prayer rugs. While respecting religious restrictions, Nomadic Mosque aims to redefine traditional forms and functions of mosques in the contemporary context. The intention is to represent identity and religion as a dynamic process that allows change in time and place. The project reinterprets the concept of the mosque based on the Prophet Mohammed’s phrase, world as a mosque, as wearable architecture. The Nomadic Mosque is a minimal-volume mosque, whose design is based on individual needs and experiences. 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 for the worshipper communicating his or her prayers, problems, needs, and desires. The project combines a prototype design for a wearable mosque and a five-minute video that shows ritual prayer in various public spaces. Allowing for the new young Islamic community to speak out, Nomadic Mosque operates as a provocative statement to claim a right to visibility and speak out against marginalization.
Concept and production: Azra Akšamija
Research and development: Andreas Mayer, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Interrogative Design Workshop (conceptual contributions)
Video: Azra Akšamija (script, editing); Andreas Mayer (camera), anonymous participant at Revere Beach (prayer)
Photographs: Jörg Mohr (photographer); Martin Zoigner, Andreas Mayer, Reno Rieger (light); Dopplinger Light & Grip Vienna (studio and equipment)
Special thanks: Rahkeen Gray, MIT Muslim Students Association
Wearable device, 12 photographs, video (2005)
Project produced as part of the Interrogative Design Workshop at MIT; Project advisor: Krzysztof Wodiczko
Materials: Textiles, qibla compass, prayer beads, zippers, single-channel video.
Dimensions: suit size, 38 (EU), video, 5 min
Also see: Azra Akšamija, Mosque Manifesto: Propositions for Spaces of Coexistence. Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2015.