Sacred design. Immaterial values, material culture

2017

In a postmodern world which hosts a mix of cultural values, Sacred Art brings into focus the sublimation of the form of representation. This makes Sacred Art a core value in the cultural-artistic rethinking and in the visual practice. On the other hand, in its relationship to society, the moral component supported by Sacred Art in Christianity represents a core value which offers cultural and artistic rethinking and visual practice a chance for spiritual revigoration. For over two decades, the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” in Iaşi has shaped and developed artistic and heritage preservation skills to generations of students educated to protect the Chruch Heritage and revive Sacred Art. The study of art history involeved in this process brings in signs of the sacred from around the world which show a constancy in their choice of location, shape and their function of signalling the presence of the sacred, which relies on their aesthetic component. Sacred Art...

The aim of this study is to explore the possibilities of how the product form conveys meaning, and then how this meaning can be the bearer of any kind of cultural information or inscription upon the object. The reading of the object is discussed within the framework that can be named as the ‘material culture of the everyday.’ Situating and defining design as a product of modernity, specific categories of objects and related theories about the possibility of the modern subject and his subjective relation with the world of objects is discussed. Last of all, following the route of identity, the Turkish tea-pot set and water-pipe is chosen for a deeper analysis for demonstrating the mechanisms or forces that shape these objects of cultural rituals within the dynamics of tradition and modernity. Keywords: Design, Material Culture, Objects, Tradition, Modernity, Identity, Turkish Teapot Set, Water Pipe.

Religions, 2024

Following the material turn in the studies of religion, this Special Issue approaches religions as happening in and through a broad variety of material objects and phenomena and aims to focus on how religious materiality interacts with heritagization processes. In short, the main research question proposed here would be how religious material objects and phenomena happen to be transformed into heritages in various social, political and religious settings and how these processes influence contemporary understandings of both “religion” and “heritage”. Relations between religions and heritages in the context of material culture can be fruitfully scrutinized, for example, in places where religious architecture may be seen and experienced also in terms of cultural heritage; where pilgrims and tourists interact with the same material objects, referring to religious or heritage registers; in museums that tend to frame religious materiality with heritage and artistic values. Conflicts and tensions over specific conceptualizations of religion and heritage, but also collaboration and mutual reinforcement of religious and heritage discourses and practices, can appear when various individuals, groups and institutions interact and use material culture produced in religious contexts. Cases of reusing religious materiality (e.g., objects, spaces) in explicitly secular contexts as representations of “the past” are also an interesting subject. Further tension is revealed in situations in which various religious groups use the same material object or space and apply heritage discourses to justify competing ownership claims. Referring to new materiality, this Special Issue would particularly like to encourage analysis that —apart from studying the political, social, institutional and human actors involved in the production of religious and heritage discourses and practices—attempts to scrutinize an active role and agency of material objects or spaces (e.g., architecture) themselves. The materiality of the human body and sensual experiences are also significant dimensions of the material culture of religion. How do these kinds of religious materiality reveal themselves in heritage production processes? How do various religious traditions interpret and approach materiality and what are the implications of these varying theologies in the context of globally promoted institutionalized heritage discourse? How do vernacular understandings of heritage, religion and materiality possibly challenge Western oriented interpretations of these terms?

Design Philosophy Papers, 2010

Religion is important and powerful. We, in design, treat it as a feature of the client's brief that we have to work around (organization of spaces) or incorporate as a formal feature (furniture for religious spaces). That is a peripheral way of dealing with religion and is an example of design in a reactive utilitarian mode or as an aesthetic and primarily visual discourse. In the modernist project the alignment of design with technology, the analytical and scientific, was proposed as sufficient for delivering solutions. However now that design has begun to view itself as an agency for deep change it actively looks for ways to carry people with it. My task is to propose that design can harness the positive powers of religion to achieve collaborative, and thus lasting, change. In what follows, I will explore this proposition not via a focus upon religion but upon a key aspect of religion, the sacred. The exploration begins with three reflections upon my personal experience of negotiating the sacred in India and elsewhere. Building on this, a four part model of the sacred is put forward, which is then extrapolated from to develop connections to design and to the secular discourses of sustainability. Reflection 1-negotiating religion My father is an atheist and to be more precise he professes a belief in the Vasisht-Advaita-the Hindu philosophy of non-duality, oneness, or more precisely not-two-nessbranch of vedantic philosophy in which the world is clearly recognized as being either

This paper start from two assumption: 1. the illuminist thought has represented a turning point in Western history, but its has “frozen” inside its “rational domain” part of our spirituality; 2. this cultural attitude is an intrinsic necessity that characterize the final time of culture, and we can read these aspect through the artistic, architectural, musical, etc. symbolism. The built environment, with its geometrical symbolism, talks about the culture that has generate it, and express the intimate values of a culture. So, if in the past the built environment was interconnected with their physical and spiritual surrounding, the contemporary has express the excessive power of mechanical culture determining the loss of human identity in favour of “artificial identity”. This artificial structure has transferred its cultural reductionism also to urbanism and architecture caused laceration of society and deformation of ethical and esthetical values. This new design represent and symbolize new values like hedonism and a devoid sense of nothing, and are sculptural expression of a society. I’ll demonstrate because this happen today, what we can learn from the past, and i propose a new approach, structured on holistic way and able to demonstrate that the science can and must married the beauty and spirituality.

International Journal of Scientific Research in Engineering and Management (IJSREM), 2023

History and literature denote the importance of symbols which represent Religion and architecture. As per cultural evolution, different symbols evolved in aesthetic form making them tangible. This paper focuses on religion that binds them together at a certain point and how it has its own values and elements in the shape that society and its people have given it. The role played by religion in architecture can be stretched back thousands of years ago. Religion arises as a necessity to understand various aspects of society and surrounding social activities, that reflect in complementing the scientific understanding of religious architecture and symbols. Religious architecture is the historic record of the way people express their faith. These old structures are the heritage of the country. The elements like religious symbolism come up with various beliefs, rituals, and scriptures from ancient times. These elements merged with the architectural style to form religious structures. Since the ancient era religion has been a major source of inspiration in architectural construction and architecture has concretized religion, thus spaces they shape support and reflect spiritual practices and religious beliefs. Indeed, the motive of each structure remains the same, varying its symbolism in each religion. The aim of this paper is to understand how all religious structures are connected to each other in various aspects.

Religious artefacts are usually evaluated in the light of good-old symbolism rather than functionality. This makes these artefacts perceived as objects alienated to the contemporary paradigm of design in its classical sense the outcome of the formula ‘form follows function’. However, symbolism is not sufficient to explain the material culture of religious objects, because they mostly refer to specific practices and rituals. In this situation there is a strong need to go beyond purely symbolic patterns and have a fresh look at the issue of functionality and design. This paper aims to discuss the historical origins and sociological perspectives of material culture of religion, with a specific reference to Islam and Sufism, interrogating religious objects with a view to focusing on their functionality. All these discussions are structured on the three basic categories of function, namely; techno-function, socio-function and ideo-function.

The chapter start from two assumption: 1. the illuminist thought has represented a turning point in Western history, but its has “frozen” inside its “rational domain” part of our spirituality; 2. this cultural attitude is an intrinsic necessity that characterize the final time of culture, and we can read these aspect through the artistic, architectural, musical, etc. symbolism. The built environment, with its geometrical symbolism, talks about the culture that has generate it, and express the intimate values of a culture. So, if in the past the built environment was interconnected with their physical and spiritual surrounding, the contemporary has express the excessive power of mechanical culture determining the loss of human identity in favour of “artificial identity”. This artificial structure has transferred its cultural reductionism also to urbanism and architecture caused laceration of society and deformation of ethical and esthetical values. This new design represent and symbo...

The twentieth century is marked by the introduction of new religious movements, mainly from the far East, which brought in their philosophies and rituals to the West. The Hare Krishna movement is one the new religions that sprung up in the United States first, but now continues its growth mainly in the Eastern Europe and India. Despite the growing popularity of the Vedic knowledge and practices in the post-USSR region, a lot of people find it ‘exotic’ and foreign to their native culture. Often the conflict arises in families, where one of the members is eager to follow the rituals of the Hare Krishnas (namely, their food practices) but faces strong resentment of the relatives. This work, thus, describes a design project that is aimed to help solve the situation by introducing an object that allows ‘hiding’ any religious items. The object proposed is a mirror with a secret compartment where a small altar can be arranged, as well as a set of dishes, needed for the ritual.

Art has been included customary and possible dimensions to speak by man with holiness, before when was related to the veil of human's egotism. In this age, since the dimension was not sourced from right and truth for man and good names of providence did not come to seek the veil of idolatrous, symbols and motifs appear the occult meanings and themselves are showy of theological facts. The art can appear as religion, because from our sight of principle of knowledgeable, art and religion are intertwined naturally. Every ingenious demonstrate the mysteries that don't appear except with brightness of intellectuality, and it is for having a share of the divine realm, which is the agency cause of manifesting artistic works. The ingenious should attract to the truth to create the making clear beautiful faces by assisting God diffusion. Ingenious lives in the shadow of the verbal knowledge tree. In this sense, if we look closely, we can find very similarities between religious and artistic knowledge: knowledge of art is as immediate and direct as religious knowledge. In the knowledge of art, the reason was not discussed as well acquired knowledge. Therefore, in this study, we investigate the religious influence on architecture, especially on the architecture of religious buildings such as churches and mosques. CAMI VE KILISELERIN MIMARISINE ROLÜ VE DIN ETKISI ÖZ Sanat insanın bencilliğin peçe ile ilişkili iken önce, kutsallık ile adam tarafından konuşmak için alışılmış ve olası boyutları dahil edilmiştir. Bu çağda, boyut insan ve ihtiyat iyi isimler için sağ ve gerçeği kaynaklı değildi çünkü putperest peçe aramaya gelmedi, semboller ve motifler gizli anlamları ortaya çıkar ve kendilerini teolojik gerçekler gösterişli bulunmaktadır. bilgili, sanat ve din ilkesi bizim gözden doğal iç içe, çünkü sanat, din olarak görünebilir. Her marifetli zihinsellik parlaklığında dışında görünmüyor sırlarını göstermek ve sanatsal eserlerini tezahür ajansı nedenidir ilahi aleme, bir paya sahip içindir. ustaca Tanrı difüzyon yardımcı olarak yapma açık, güzel yüzler oluşturmak için gerçeğe çekmek gerekir. sözlü bilgi ağacının gölgesinde Dahice yaşıyor. yakından bakarsanız bu anlamda, dini ve sanatsal bilgi arasındaki çok benzerlikler bulabilirsiniz: sanat bilgisi dini bilgi gibi acil ve doğrudan. sanat bilgisi olarak nedeni de elde edilen bilgiyi ele değildi. Bu nedenle, bu çalışmada, özellikle kilise ve cami gibi dini yapıların mimarisine, mimarlık dini etkileri araştırıldı. INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of human history, art has always been synonymous with religious subjects and expressions and concepts, which gradually predominance of mundane concepts on the human life, the fields were proportionally branched from it. In fact, just as blasphemy and polytheism prevail over

Design Philosophy Papers, 2010

LOOKING AT “DESIGN and DESIGNER” FROM a CULTURAL POINT of VIEW, 2022

Design is a phenomenon encompassing multiple fields such as culture, technique, art, and sociology. The design, which constitutes a kind of buffer zone due to its position, exists in direct and indirect relations with the ipseity of life. In a multidisciplinary structure, the organization of inputs from each different field is one of the core elements at the heart of design. The designed object, on the other hand, is an entity emerging from the combination of culture and technique in terms of providing an aesthetic and ergonomic solution to the existing need and having the potency to shape the way of living and habit. The paradigms used in design fall outside the zeitgeist when created solely based on conventional data and pre-existing knowledge. The needs and culture that move alongside time also form the essence of culture. This formation, in fact, is a depiction of the way of life. The shaped environment, again, involves movement whether with places or metas; it evolves and changes with a dynamic nature. The design is also a phenomenon that shares this dynamism in the most basic sense and takes form within its own timeframe. The ability to use this dynamic nature either in a negative or positive direction finds existence under the responsibility of the designer. The design-related core that is created by the culture, once again, reaches a point where it creates the culture. The purpose of this study is to interpret the role of the contemporary design object in our reality by discussing sections from the definitions of metas as well as from the meanings attributed to their social cores and contents within the design process from industrial production to our present day. In this regard, the study discusses the relevance and relation of the design to the concepts of culture, consumption, and meta. Moreover, based on the formation of the 21st-century modern world, this interpretation process provides an insight into the place where the design and designer stand and should stand. Tasarım; kültür, teknik, sanat, sosyoloji gibi birçok alanı içinde barındırır. Pozisyonu gereği bir tampon bölge oluşturan tasarım hayatın kendiliği ile direkt ve dolaylı ilişkilerdedir. Farklı alanlardan girdilerin organizasyonu tasarımın özünde yatan nüvelerdendir. Tasarlanmış obje; ihtiyacın, estetik ve ergonomik olarak çözümlenmesi noktasında kültür ve tekniğin bir birleşimi, yaşayışı ve alışkanlığı biçimlendiren bir varlıktır. Tasarım paradigmaları sadece konvansiyonel veriyle oluşturulduğunda zamanın ruhunun dışında kalır. Zamanda hareket eden ihtiyaçlar ve kültür tasarımı şekillendirir. Bu şekilleniş yaşayışın tasviridir. Şekillenmiş çevre, mekanlarda ve metalarda hareket barındırır, değişir, dinamiktir. Tasarım da en temelde dinamik bir yapıda olan ve zaman dahilinde biçimlenen bir olgudur. Bu yapıyı negatif-pozitif yönde kullanabilme kabiliyeti tasarımcının sorumluluğundadır. Kültürden var olan tasarımsal nüve yine kültürü oluşturan bir noktaya varır. Bu çalışma zanaattan günümüze kadar tasarım sürecinde metaların tanımlanmalarından, toplumsal nüvelerinden, anlamlarından ve içeriklerinden kesitler tartışarak günümüz tasarım objesinin gerçekliğimizdeki yerini anlamlandırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Kültür, tüketim, meta gibi kavramlar üzerinden tasarım ile ilgi-ilişki tartışılmış ve 21. Yüzyıl modern dünyasının oluşumundan hareketle tasarımın ve tasarımcının durduğu/durması gereken yere bir bakış sağlamaktadır.

2014

ABSTRACT The identity of the places of worship is one of the most difficult problems faced by religious architecture at the start of this new millennium. The globalising experiences demand peremptorily a reflection, both a conceptual and a situational one, about the origin of objects, people and institutions. The easiness with which foreign cultural systems are currently reached allows multiple exchanges, some of them leading to a transfer of values and to inter-religion dialogue. This happens as a result of the on-going influx of migrants to the rich and strongly secular countries of Europe and North America, the repeated fundamentalism outbreaks in various corners of the World and the gradual religious opening of the Far East. Nevertheless, the chance of these migration flows annihilating the already-existing religious identities is perceived as a problem. This problem is directly linked to the survival of architecture as a system carrying a material representation of the divine and constituting a self-reference system for the community of believers. Therefore, we may ask ourselves to what extent the new religious architecture has given room to an abstract type of formal experimentation which is disconnected from social reality. Does this architecture maintain its bridging, sacramental value or, on the contrary, has it given way to the conceptualist trends still alive in the artistic world? Is metaphor a valid concept for Christian cult? Is there an essential aspect linking our architecture to the centuries-old tradition of the Catholic Church? Different architectural, pedagogical, exhibition and formal initiatives have arisen in recent years and it is necessary to get to know them, with the purpose of understanding where is contemporary religious architecture heading in its eternal search for a permanent identity.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012

Architectural schools of design overwhelmingly adapt to cultural backgrounds of societies they target. This paper distinguishes between ideologies that generated Western, contemporary architecture, and on the other hand, the values of traditional Arab communities. The paper aims at parrying architectural plastic formations that are irrelevant to the local Arab discourse. The paper rediscovers a value oriented architecture that is capable of moving spiritual feelings towards the built environment, even if its formalistic and visual attractiveness is controversial. The paper-startling products that apparently or superficially hold value.