New religious movements are emerging in the world's metropolises. Novel religious communities are embodied by political, economic and social players who promise redemption or liberation and success or collective healing.

Global Prayers
Redemption and Liberation in the City
Theme Days
Lectures, Photography, Discussions, Sounds, Film
23–26 February 2012

www.hkw.de/global_prayers
www.globalprayers.info

Haus der Kulturen der Welt
John-Foster-Dulles Allee 10
10577 Berlin
www.hkw.de


New religious movements are emerging in the world's metropolises. Novel religious communities are embodied by political, economic and social players who promise redemption or liberation and success or collective healing. This development is changing the world map of denominations along with the cultural settings and architectural appearance of urban spaces and the public domain. Evangelical communities work in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to prevent drug abuse. In war-torn Beirut, Islamic movements are organizing the reconstruction of the devastated city. Christian Nollywood movies are being made in the film studios of Lagos. Islamic gated communities are sprouting up on the outskirts of Istanbul. In Mumbai, Hindu nationalists are officially part of the municipal government. In Berlin, Christian communities gather in cinemas, cafés and other secular institutions.

Little research has been done on these new movements. Instead, they are often being ignored or scandalized. During the Global Prayers Theme Days, international academics and artists present and comment on new religious spaces, pop cultures, architectural forms and movements from the cities of Istanbul, Rio, Beirut, Jakarta, Kinshasa, Lagos, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York and Berlin. The participants explore forms, blueprints and realizations of urban spaces purportedly pleasing to God and pose questions regarding utopias, heterotopias and topographies in the city.

All over the wide space of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt the results of an intense artistic as well as academic research are being presented for the first time to the broader public: Photo sequences, video installations, and soundscapes, will create intense moments of experience and concentration. Works of artists such as Paola Yacoub or Aernout Mik as well as Gilles Aubry or David Spero allow visitors a spontaneous and direct approach to the topics of the Theme Days.

With Nezar AlSayyad (Berkeley), Enrique Dussel (Mexico City), Michaela Meise (Berlin), Aernout Mik (Amsterdam), Hengameh Golestan (Tehran, London), Joseph Vogl (Berlin), Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber (Vancouver, Wien), Philippe Rekacewicz (Eydehavn), Camilo José Vergara (New York), Ade Bantu (Lagos), and many more.

Initiated in 2009 by academics, curators and artists affiliated with the project agency metroZones e.V., GLOBAL PRAYERS is a joint endeavour of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the Europa-Universität Viadrina. As a research project at the Forum Transregionale Studien "global prayers . redemption and liberation in the city" is widely funded by the Land Berlin. Further project partners are the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, the Goethe-Institut, the NGBK Berlin and the Camera Austria Graz. The Theme Days are realised with the support of the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and the kind co-operation of the Goethe-Institut Nigeria.

Haus der Kulturen der Welt is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media on the basis of a resolution adopted by the German Parliament as well as by the Federal Foreign Office.



For full program go to: www.hkw.de/global_prayers

For more information on the overall project see. www.globalprayers.info



Press Contact:
Anne Maier
Press officer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
anne.maier@hkw.de
T +49 (0)30 39787.153

* Photo: © Sabine Bitter / Helmut Weber 2011. RCCG (Redeemed Christian Church of God) Prayers Camp, Lagos.