Female Prayers – The Sacred and The Secular

The applicant wrote about the project:

Female Prayers is a performative video and sound art installation that breaks down the boundaries between audience and scene. The project will create a new and optimistic Nordic narrative about women’s movements, religion and intersectionality. It is about being a Nordic citizen and living in the intersection of gender and ethnicity, and with a cultural origin that is both Muslim and secular.

In practice, the installation is composed of audio and video recordings from different countries, where Friday prayers are led by female imams. These recordings are mixed into musical audio and video landscapes, strengthened by a tale told by artist Nevin Tuna Erönde in which she examines ritual practice by drawing parallels between her grandmother’s Muslim prayer and her own yoga practice. The audience is part of the installation as a congregation in a ritual space participating in the ritual, led by female imams.

Participants in the project come from Denmark, Finland and Malta and it takes place in Sweden and Denmark.

The purpose of the project is to:

1. Create a new Nordic narrative about intersectionality
2. Examine ritual spaces and practices
3. Investigate social and cultural issues through sound art

Comment from The Foundation:

The project is well-developed and concrete, and it is relevant both in Nordic and international contexts. The theme in the project fosters openness and tolerance. The Nordic relevance takes form on the level of concept and idea instead of physical places.

Støtte:

Totalbudget: 1.311.167 DKK

Bevilling: 150.000 DKK