Based on my work presented for the previous week’s tutorial and the feedback received, I wanted to further explore the relationship between time and space that is established within the prayer, or more specifically, by the wall clock and prayer rugs as key pieces of “infrastructure”.
One comment that I received from the second week’s tutorial was the reoccurrence of a specific form that is shared both by the clock and the prayer rugs: the domed archway. This is very common motif in the design of most prayer rugs and is meant to symbolise what’s known in Arabic as the mihrab – a literal, spatial (often domed) niche carved into the walls of a mosque or prayer space to denote the direction towards Makkah. As such, the prayer rugs are a sort of flattened representation of a three dimensional space, which I found interesting, considering the changing relationship between one’s body and this flat surface (evoking a 3D space) during the course of a prayer.
Similarly, the shape of the wall clock takes form as this archway as well, and frames an angled aerial photograph of Makkah behind the digital prayer times. Reflecting on these two elements, I began to view the mihrab as a sort of portal, both spatially and temporally, that transports the worshipper to Makkah. When someone steps onto the prayer rug, at a specific time denoted by the wall clock, I thought that it felt like one was activating that portal and occupying it for a certain amount of time.
I decided to then use the city of Makkah as a base to measure the time passing within the prayer room. I found a livestream online and followed 5 different groups of people to determine how long it takes to circle around the Kaa’bah (the black cubed structure where prayer is oriented towards). One round took approximately 2 minutes, so I set up a base diagram of 2 minute increments to follow the length of prayers in the prayer room here in London.
I reworked the system I said set up for myself in the previous week by attending four prayers on the same day and audio recording each prayer. Later, I listened back to the recordings and deconstructed the prayer sequences by noting down the number of seconds each action of the prayer took. These actions establish various changing relationships between the worshipper’s body and the prayer rugs. I noted each position down and assigned it a colour as shown below.
Using this key, I drew out each of the four prayers onto the base spiral, with each varying in total time taken, as well as differing sequences of the body positions. Ultimately, when comparing all four prayers, it seems that the times themselves are spiralling around the Kaa’bah in the diagram (though not visible here, as I can’t figure out how to make GIFs work on WordPress…)
Feedback:
- The prayer rug patterns are significant – can you use these?
- A kit of parts for what makes the space function as it is
- Does the time shrink or expand?
- The diagrams are viewed out of time
- The prayer builds around the Kaa’bah