art, science & business/dialog: »Gotteshäuser als Fetisch? Zur Re- und Desakralisierung von Gebäuden« [Places of Worship as Fetish? On the Re- and De-Sacralization of Buildings]

At least since Mircea Eliade, architectural-theoretical, theological and religious-sociological literature knows its central topos to be the differentiation between the sacred and the profane. But from an empiric point of view, the intimate connection of spaces with the differentiation of sacred and profane is problematic: First, an increasing number of churches, i.e. sacred rooms, are now converted towards the profane and used for other purposes. Second, many religions hold their services in buildings that were not built as sacred spaces.

The podium discussion addresses the issue of this doubled annulment with a group of people who are participants in sacred-building conservation projects as well as observers of such projects. Here, it’s less about the medially exploited competitive relationships between religions and more about a collapse of differentiation in practice. This collapse is not simply a theological or religious-sociological problem but rather an economic, political, legal, urban-planning, and architectural issue.

Participants: Martin Baumann, Professor for religious studies and dean of the cultural and social studies faculty at the University of Lucerne; Mehmet Bayram, Architect of the Islamic federation in Berlin; Paul Böhm, Architect of the planned mosque in Cologne; and Regine Burg, Superintendent of Kirchenkreis Bielefeld.

This topic was initiated by the sociologist Dr. Michael Guggenheim, University of Zurich. He was a fellow in the art, science & business program in 2005/2006.

Please register with Anne Vollenbröker, av@akademie-solitude.de, Tel. +49 (0) 711 99 61 91 34, Admission free.

With the friendly support of Synnecta GmbH.