Temples of My Generation

According to Émile Durkheim religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things".  In all divine and Non-divine Religions there are various symbols and elements that emphases on this sacredness to make its’ devotees perceive the religion in their daily lives. Before the internet age these symbols were very effective in small communities like families, villages, cities or even nations. Making people to believe what their leader wants were too easy in comparison to the new age that we are living in. 

As a “Gen Y” who have born in 1991 and raised under the control of an Islamic government (Iran) getting educated in Islamic manners along side the internet rise, me and my generation have been created our own sacredness along the time. Speaking on behalf of my generation religious boundaries have been fade out while we all have the bases of our believes on the tenets we have learned from former generations. Internet, which was an unknown and suddenly emerged communication tool, has turned into an experience process for us, making us different from previous and next generations. Gen Y has seen the past generations accepting without questioning and sees the next generations questioning without accepting. As so communication is sacredness for my generation.  

As an architect I take the responsibility to create the sacred place for my peers as “Temple of my generation”. The features of the installation to be produced as “Temple of my generation” through this festival can be described under 4 titles. The installation basically consists of 2 different parts including chains and heavy symbolic objects.

1. 9 symbolic objects that have been inspired by religious buildings’ architectural elements will give visitors ability to reshape the temple continually. These shapes will also represent the basis of our todays believes which are still with us and tries to take us down by their heaviness. These objects will be produced out of metal to give them heaviness. 

2.  Each of 9 objects will be connected to 10mm chains each. These chains will be connected to each other at a central part of the courtyard on the other end in approximately three meters Hight. By changing the position of all 9 objects by visitors chains will create an inner and outer space perception together. This will represent the unstableness of the temple of my generation.

3. All the 9 objects will be covered by a mirror surface. These mirror surface will let the visitors to see themselves while they are reshaping the temple to make them see their own value in this process. These surfaces will also get scratched by getting replaced on Pebbles or soil that will cover the ground of courtyard. This will also represent the weakening of background religion idea in our minds day by day.

4. As all these religious boundaries fades out in my generations’ mind, the amount and dimensions of the elements used in installation have been arranged to make it possible to be carried by a suitcase. It metaphorically suggests that we can easily carry our temples by ourselves independent of everything.