Environment and Art
2004 New York, New York
2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Letter from the Convener, Tom Slon SJ
“Memorializing events and persons of importance has become a major concern for New York City since the catastrophe of September 11, 2001. In light of this, the topic for our consideration will be shrines, their significance, the experience of designing, buildingand visiting them, and their role in liturgy.
We will visit three different kinds of shrines: Grand Central Station, the Church of St. John the Divine, and the New York City Mosque on 96th Street onSunday, Jan. 4, and discuss our findings of Jan. 5. “
Dear Members of the NAAL A&E Seminar:
John Gallen, Bob Rambusch, Dick Vosko, Patrick Holtkamp, Art Sikula and I met in trendy SoHo of New York City to put our heads together to plan for our seminar’s work in January 2003. We propose the following for your consideration.
The events of 9/11 raise to renewed awareness the human need and inclination to make shrines, to enshrine, and to recognize shrines.
To quote the inimitable John Gallen, we might begin to define a shrine as “a stimulating assembly of archetypal elements which focuses people’s experience of the beyond.”
The types of shrines are varied. Some are:
- Temples, a space designated by architecture with a focus such as an idol or icon.
- A marker, which commemorates an event that occurred in that place.
- A monument in a public place which commemorates a person or event.
- A place or building which eventually is recognized as a shrine by way of an accumulated history or common experience. Such places or buildings are usually monuments to something more abstract, such as progress, commerce, etc.
Making shrines and memorials is a part, large or small, of what we do as designers of worship spaces. Furthermore, as we see repeatedly, making shrines is a cultural phenomenon. But we might ask, are shrines compatible with liturgical space, or are they diametrically opposed? In light of our discussions of Eucharist as Word-event and Table celebration, can we do liturgy in a shrine? What makes a shrine, and what makes us make shrines?
New York is rich in shrines, and Ground Zero has made the topic a salient one in New York. It is our proposal that in January we visit shrines. Our time for travel this year is fairly constrained. So we propose that we visit (1)Grand Central Station, a shrine to progress, industry and travel; (2) the Church of St. John the Divine, a shrine in itself which also contains shrines; and (3)the Mosque on 96th Street, a building that enshrines the prayer of a non-Christian people. We will travel to these sites on Sunday, Jan 4, the first day designated for seminar work. On the following day, we will gather in seminar at the hotel to discuss what we saw on the previous day, with slides and other media to assist our memories and to supplement our travels with other examples of shrines, such as the fence around St. Paul’s in lower Manhattan which became a shrine to the fallen fire fighters during the catastrophe of 9/11, Strawberry Field in Central Park, road side shrines, and domestic garden shrines.
Since it is not too early to be thinking about our seminar in January, your suggestions and response to the proposal will be welcomed and appreciated. Any reading material that you might suggest to help prepare us to study this topic will also be appreciated.
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Tom Slon