Project framework: context, research questions, summary of research insights

Assembly is a series of site-specific installations that perform Muslim congregational prayer, comprising of 1:1 scaled moving floor projections with surround sound. The project uses motorised filming rigs to record the religious practices taking place in each mosque. What is recorded and how it is recorded is determined by the community, informed by the social/religious rules of the site. The motorisation of the rig is an essential element as it enables the footage to be projected back into site in synchronised time and space. This filmic representation of the religious practice can then be ‘experienced’ in the architectural site, hosted by each community. 

Context 

Harrow Mosque was originally a pair of semi-detached 1930s houses; Brick Lane an 18th-century Huguenot chapel, then synagogue; Old Kent Road previously a pub. So is it architecture, religious belief or something less tangible that denotes a mosque? My research revolved around the notion that it is the act of prayer. 

Assembly uses site-integrity  a working methodology – a particular but original mode of site-specific practice that potentiates a dynamic exchange between site, artist, device, and community. Artistic devices articulate the material, architectural, social, religious, institutional discourses present in site acting as an interface, a dynamic network or system of exchange. In Assembly site-integrity re-presents recorded material back in the place it was filmed using a motorised rig, defining spatial position and context. This enables an exact transfer of scale and time as the image maps the architectural site.  With Assembly, rather than simply produce a representation of Muslim prayer, the aim was a series of artworks, centred on the congregation, that convey a deeper, more multifaceted sense of the experience. 

Key questions 

1 How might an immersive, site-specific installation enhance self-awareness of Islamic worship?

2 Can artistic fieldwork play a part in connecting communities? 

3 Would art performed in a mosque (rather than a gallery) be more meaningful for the congregation?

4 Can innovative/digital technologies capture, record, disseminate and preserve dynamic cultural heritage, particularly interior spaces and intangible cultural practices?

Summary of research insights 

Assembly enhanced the congregation’s self-awareness of the act of worship. The project highlighted the social and architectural diversity of mosques in Britain, raising questions about social boundaries, while creating an opportunity for mosques to connect with the wider community.

CreatorsMarsh, J.
Description

Made in collaboration with the different mosque congregations, Assembly uses a programmed device mounted on a six-metre motorised rig. Gliding back and forth on the rig, the device is both “recorder” and “player”: at the end of a shoot, the camera is replaced by a projector and the “film” is ready for playback. The work does more than reproduce prayer: it also “performs” the social and religious structures of the site, making evocative use of 5.1 surround sound to create an uncanny experience. Mapped precisely to the mosque floor, the projected image of the carpet disappears into the real carpet. And the congregation, returning as observers, watch ghostly illusions of themselves at prayer.
Created and projected in each one of four mosques, Assembly enhanced the congregation’s self-awareness of the act of worship. The project highlights the social and architectural diversity of mosques in Britain, raising questions about social boundaries, while creating an opportunity for mosques to connect with the wider community.
The Venice installation of Assembly will include five films and interviews generated by the Assembly project, plus detailed 3D scans of Old Kent Road and Brick Lane mosques. Both films and scans will enter the V&A collection as permanent digital artefacts as a record of a significant period of informal religious architecture.

Portfolio itemsSite-integrity: a dynamic exchange between site, artist, device and audience
Assembly: Performing the materiality of Muslim prayer spaces
Virtual Assembly
2021 Venice Architecture Biennale - Three British Mosques/Assembly
British Mosques
Year2020
PublisherUniversity of Westminster
Web address (URL)https://vimeo.com/showcase/8120594/
KeywordsCREAM Portfolio
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.34737/v844y

Portfolio items

Site-integrity: a dynamic exchange between site, artist, device and audience
Marsh, J. 2019. Site-integrity: a dynamic exchange between site, artist, device and audience. Journal for Artistic Research. Issue 19 19. https://doi.org/10.22501/jar.596787

Assembly: Performing the materiality of Muslim prayer spaces
Marsh, J. 2018. Assembly: Performing the materiality of Muslim prayer spaces. Scene. 6 (2), pp. 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1386/scene_00014_1

Virtual Assembly
Marsh, J. 2021. Virtual Assembly .

2021 Venice Architecture Biennale - Three British Mosques/Assembly
Marsh, J. 2020. 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale - Three British Mosques/Assembly. VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE May - Sep 2021

British Mosques
Marsh, J. Saleem, S., Turner, C. and Kilgallon, E. (ed.) 2021. British Mosques. Foolscap Editions.

Related outputs

Assembly: Investigating the Role That Artist Fieldwork Can Play in Islamic Sites of Worship
Marsh, Julie 2024. Assembly: Investigating the Role That Artist Fieldwork Can Play in Islamic Sites of Worship. Architecture and Culture. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/20507828.2024.2336325

Performing the Symbiotic Relationship Between the Adapted Mosque and its Congregation
Marsh, J. 2024. Performing the Symbiotic Relationship Between the Adapted Mosque and its Congregation. in: Lamb, T. and Wang, C. (ed.) Negotiating Identities, Language and Migration in Global London: Bridging Borders, Creating Spaces London Multilingual Matters. pp. 170-186

Site-integrity: An embedded and embodied approach to practice-based research
Marsh, J. 2023. Site-integrity: An embedded and embodied approach to practice-based research. Scene. 11 (1-2), pp. 7-20. https://doi.org/10.1386/scene_00061_1

Virtual Assembly
Marsh, J. 2021. Virtual Assembly .

British Mosques
Marsh, J. Saleem, S., Turner, C. and Kilgallon, E. (ed.) 2021. British Mosques. Foolscap Editions.

Jamaat at Harrow Mosque (2020)
Marsh, J. 2020. Jamaat at Harrow Mosque (2020). Harrow Mosque 16 - 16 Oct 2020

Jamaat at Old Kent Road Mosque (2019-20)
Marsh, J. 2020. Jamaat at Old Kent Road Mosque (2019-20) . 20 Jun 2020

2021 Venice Architecture Biennale - Three British Mosques/Assembly
Marsh, J. 2020. 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale - Three British Mosques/Assembly. VENICE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE May - Sep 2021

Site-integrity: a dynamic exchange between site, artist, device and audience
Marsh, J. 2019. Site-integrity: a dynamic exchange between site, artist, device and audience. Journal for Artistic Research. Issue 19 19. https://doi.org/10.22501/jar.596787

Assembly: catalogue of research findings
Marsh, J. 2019. Assembly: catalogue of research findings. London Shelter Press, France.

Jamaat at Brick Lane Mosque (2018-9)
Marsh, J. 2018. Jamaat at Brick Lane Mosque (2018-9) . Brick Lane Mosque Oct - Nov 2018

Assembly: Performing the materiality of Muslim prayer spaces
Marsh, J. 2018. Assembly: Performing the materiality of Muslim prayer spaces. Scene. 6 (2), pp. 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1386/scene_00014_1

Assembly: Artist Talk at Closeup Film Centre
Marsh, J. 2018. Assembly: Artist Talk at Closeup Film Centre. Julie Marsh.

Salat at Birmingham Central Mosque (2016-17)
Marsh, J. 2017. Salat at Birmingham Central Mosque (2016-17). Birmingham Central Mosque 06 - 06 May 2016

Lokomotywownia (2016)
Marsh, J. 2017. Lokomotywownia (2016). Płaszów, Poland 10 - 24 Feb 2017

Assembly: performing the materiality of Muslim prayer spaces
Marsh, J. 2016. Assembly: performing the materiality of Muslim prayer spaces. University of Westminster.

Pestera (2015)
Marsh, J. 2015. Pestera (2015). Atelier Contemporary Art Space, Bucharest 21 - 28 Jul 2017

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/portfolio/v844y/assembly


Filming in main prayer hall at Brick Lane Mosque
Filming in main prayer hall at Brick Lane Mosque
Film stills of congregational prayer main prayer hall (above) and female prayer room (below) at Brick Lane Mosque
Film stills of congregational prayer main prayer hall (above) and female prayer room (below) at Brick Lane Mosque
Female congregation member interacting with projected image
Female congregation member interacting with projected image