(UN) SEEN
SACRED SPACES
Vienna is home to various sacred buildings. But which of them are visible in the cityscape and why are others unseen or are made invisible?
Behind some walls in Vienna one would not think that there are dedicated spaces which are places of gathering, spirituality and belonging for people. These spaces are hidden in buldings, backyards, warehouses or other places. They are not hidden because they want to be invisible but because it is not made easy for them to be more visible.
Other sacred places were made invisible in the past and are now struggling to make sure that their history of destruction is not forgotten and that the memory of it becomes a lesson.
Or some communities are growing now and getting spaces to be visible.
This project enables you to listen, see, understand and learn about different communities and sacred spaces in Vienna. Through an audio and augmented reality platform you can have a virtual tour in a scape of your city you maybe don’t know. More than that you can add your sacred space and make our cityscape more inclusive for us all.
[Un]seen Sacred Spaces
Future of Inclusion Lab
Team Members: Asma Aiad, Parisa Ayati, Rebecca Merlic, Ines Mahmoud, Mateja Rot
(Un)seen Sacred Spaces is a project that deals with the (in)visibility of different sacred buildings in the cityscape. It questions why some sacred buildings are visible and others are not and why are some deliberately made invisible and what does this do to their communities? Based on three sacred spaces in Austria, we want to set an example of different communities and make their concerns visible. Many buildings that look like a normal house from the outside do not appear to host significant spaces. Despite their invisibility, they are part of the city and only known to those who are aware of them. Their (in)visibility says a lot about social integration in our society. These buildings are invisible because of their history like the former synagogue in Turnergasse in Vienna or because making them visible leads to major political and social discussions like mosques. Or new spaces that are created or redefined like a lot of orthodox or free churches that were former catholic churches which are not used anymore and given to other Christian groups which are getting bigger now and need spaces and through that getting the chance to be more visible.
Through our platform, we tell untold stories and give people the opportunity to learn about these stories and to sharpen their view on social injustice, while also addressing what (in)visibility does to the individual communities and which emotions and self- and external images are created by it.
„(Un)seen Sacred Spaces“ ist ein Projekt, das sich mit der (Un-)Sichtbarkeit verschiedener Sakralbauten im Stadtbild befasst. Es stellt die Frage, warum einige Sakralbauten sichtbar sind und andere nicht und was dies für ihre Gemeinschaften bedeutet.