PARADISE HAS MANY GATES by Ajlan Gharem

感谢 Ajlan Gharem 予gooood分享以下内容。
Appreciation towards Ajlan Gharem for providing the following description:

清真寺象征着凌驾于个人之上的权力机构，是兄弟、父亲、伊玛目与国家的具象代表，是一个是既免费开放，又不得不强制参与的公共场所。

The mosque is a symbol of the power structures that rise above the individual; whether in the form of other brother, father, imam or state. The mosque is at once a free public place, and one where attendance is mandatory.

▼项目概览，overview ©Ajlan Gharem

Paradise Has Many Gates是艺术家Ajlan Gharem的第一件装置作品，这是一座10米x6.5米的清真寺，由工业钢材建造而成。Ajlan的装置延续了传统伊斯兰礼拜场所的设计和功能，却在形式上对应了西方国家为阻止难民和非法移民进入而在边界建起的牢笼。

▼项目视频，the video ©Ajlan Gharem

Paradise Has Many Gates is Ajlan Gharem’s first installation work – a 10 x 6.5 meter mosque constructed from industrial steel. While true to the design and function of a traditional Islamic place of worship, Ajlan’s mosque is built from the same cage-like material that Western countries use to erect fences along their borders, preventing refugees and illegal immigrants from entering.

▼“清真寺”还是“牢笼”？a mosque or a cage ©Ajlan Gharem

▼内部视角，interior view ©Ajlan Gharem

除了装置本身，作品还包括两个视频，记录了艺术家和施工团队在利雅得郊外的沙漠中建造清真寺、进行祈祷表演、然后将其拆除的全过程。

Along with the installation, the work includes a video of the artist and other construction workers building the mosque in the desert outside Riyadh, staging a prayer performance and then deinstalling it.

▼建造视频，video, the making process ©Ajlan Gharem

身处清真寺的“牢笼”中，囚禁感和焦虑感将油然而生。同时，作为穆斯林的祈祷中心，装置也激发了游客、穆斯林和非穆斯林对神圣空间的质疑，促使人们思考“清真寺”在不同世代与文化中的差别含义。

Evoking feelings of imprisonment and anxiousness by way of its caged structure, while also representing Muslims’ center of prayer, this mosque invites all visitors, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, to question how we designate and behave within sacred spaces, and how their meaning will differ between generations and cultures.

▼阳光穿过装置，sun light through the Muslim ©Ajlan Gharem

▼夕阳余晖中的装置，Muslim in the sunset ©Ajlan Gharem

▼夜景，night view ©Ajlan Gharem

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