MANIFESTO Version.01

The commercial religion and the religion of commerce

a constructed space that is always in construction

God – script – worship – icons – commerce (product)

A set of beliefs held by a specific group of believers can be branded as a “religion” if those shared convictions define the communal rituals and the personal practices of the group members. While the purpose of structured religions seem to be the provision of an answer to the reason of the existence of the human condition, the practice of religions tends to elaborate on the purpose by incorporating cultural and historical traditions organized in a way to create a set of practice guidelines to govern the human behavioural patterns. From those elements, icons are drawn such as, in Christianity, the characters in the stories foretold (Jesus, Mary, the saints …etc) and equivalently elements translate into icons (the cross, the dove representing the holly spirit, the lamb representing Jesus….etc).

In the age when literacy was scarce, icons were almost imperative to set reference points with which one can understand and interpret the teachings. However, in a contemporary setting such requirement, rationally, should diminish. Yet it did not. It is possible that the teaching passed down by many generations promoted those icons as holly, so we are programmed to perceive them as such and we have psychologically redefined their purpose. It is also possible that the human obsession of the physical subconsciously prevents us from letting go of the tangible representation to the favour of the intangible idea. Either way, we have elevated the physical icons to the level of the idea it represents. Is it possible that deep down inside, some pagan weeds still managed to survive in many of us? I wonder. But an interesting observation is that this fact has not gone unnoticed, and commercialism has crept onto this fact by giving us a variety of those icons in different shapes, sizes and colours.     Such phenomena is not exclusive to Christianity, but is also observed in many structured religions (the Buddha, the picture and miniatures of the Kabb’a and the dome of the rock for Muslims, the David Star for Jews…etc).

 I would call that “Commercial Religions”.

Commerce (product) – icons – worship – scripture - God

Commercialism is the new world’s religion. With its own icons (Prada, BMW, Starbucks, Ipod), sacred rituals (consumerism, plastic surgery, latest trends), space of worship(Selfridges, Harrods), scriptures (vogue, wallpaper), God (Money, Social Status, beauty). Keeping the definition of religion as “A set of beliefs held by a specific group of believers can be branded as a “religion” if those shared convictions define the communal rituals and the personal practices of the group members” there is no reason that commercialism should be excluded as a religion in itself.

The world we live in is not isolated. With a globalized world and multicultural cities the modern sacred space should be democratic and should not be devoted to a single religion. Multi religions spaces do exist in airports, some public buildings …etc. but, unlike churches, mosques, synagogues or temples, multi faith prayer rooms are minor and consequential in nature. Hardly an icon but a good candidate to become one. As a preliminary idea for the purpose of this manifesto, I propose that the new structure should have a primary pure form to avoid attachment of historical stigmatism and not to be associated with any established religion. Building on the idea of a democratic space, I propose the shape of a circle or preferably a sphere as it has no beginning or end, devoid of any hierarchy. The structure should benefit from an open plan where function can be defined and redefined using movable elements. The open plan can be extended to an open section whereby floors can also be tailor-made with movable constructible elements. The flexibility does not only make the space adaptable to existing structured religions, but also to the new religion of Commerce (exhibition space).