Shooting images: Photographs from the war in Iraq …a review (of sorts)
see article here:
Archive for September, 2009
Transient urban spaces
Modernity has kraaled sacred space into particular sanctioned places like the cemetery or the Church, Mosque and Synagogue. These place are permanent and state sanctioned.
Ground Zero in New York after 9/11 became a paradigm for the temporary sacred space. Developing on from this idea, here we look at the way contemporary urban culture has reintroduced the idea of a transient holy or sacred space into everyday experience. In part, this is inspired by white bikes – literally old bikes, painted white – which have started to appear by the sides of roads where cyclists have died. Called ‘ghost bikes’, they form part of a coordinated action from Austria to New Zealand. This piece explores how sacred spaces are being created which both intervene in the urban landscape and provide an interstice for political action. In this instance it’s bike safety, but this can also be seen in the markings used to reaffirm identity in the case of gang-associated violence.