Westminster academics collaborate with the V&A to create ‘Three British Mosques’ pavilion for the Venice Biennale

The launch of the Three British Mosques Pavilion will take place in Venice at La Biennale di Venezia on 22 May, and will explore contemporary multiculturalism through three adapted mosque spaces in London. The pavilion responds to the theme ‘How will we live together?’ set by Lebanese architect Hashim Sarkis, and marks the fifth year of the V&A’s collaboration with La Biennale di Venezia.
 
Through the project, the academics examined three case studies including the Brick Lane mosque, a former Protestant chapel then Synagogue; Old Kent Road mosque housed in a former pub and Harrow Central mosque, a purpose-built space that sits next door to the converted terraced house it used to occupy. The pavilion is carpeted as in a mosque, and the stories of each of the case studies will be explored through 3D architectural reconstructions, filmed interviews and photographs.

Shahed Saleem carried out a comprehensive study of the history of the British mosque and has also designed several. The V&A worked with him to explore three different case studies that illuminate stories of immigration, identity, and community aspiration. The pavilion looks at the self-built and often undocumented world of adapted mosques, offering an attempt to record and celebrate mosque-making in Britain.

As part of the pavilion, Julie Marsh was commissioned by the V&A to conduct a series of interviews with members of the congregation at Brick Lane Mosque, Old Kent Road Mosque and Harrow Mosque, allowing individual worshippers to tell their personal stories of their relationship with their own mosque. 

Alongside the interviews, a series of films of congregational prayer were made as part of Marsh’s research project entitled ‘Assembly’, which will be shown as part of the exhibition. This provided an opportunity to record these communities at different stages in their development, discovering and preserving the history and heritage of each congregation and its place of prayer.

Talking about the project, Julie Marsh said: “At the heart of every mosque lies its community. As each congregation expands, the mosque adapts and transforms to meet its needs. The building, in turn, informs the way in which the community develops within the architecture of the site. The congregation and building evolve together, producing a symbiotic relationship unique to each Muslim community. 

“The Three British Mosque exhibition for the 2021 Venice Biennale highlights the significance of this relationship through a social archive of each mosque featured in the exhibition. Films of congregational prayer show the community in action, and individual worshippers tell personal stories of their relationship to their mosque in a series of interviews.  This cinematic archive has its roots in research conducted for Assembly, a site-specific visual research project made and exhibited in Brick Lane Mosque, Old Kent Road Mosque and Harrow Mosque in London from 2018 to 2021.”

Professor Gregory Sporton, Head of School for the Westminster School of Arts, added: “Julie and Shahed, working with the V&A, have completed an impressive body of work over the past three years that responds to the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale’s theme, ‘How will we live together?’. The message from this project, and particularly the enthusiastic participation of the community, is inescapable: we need each other. 

“Marsh and Saleem’s work displays the commitment we have as a research group and a university to contribute to the reality around us, to situate ourselves within our communities. We are grateful for the partnership we have had with the V&A, and hope this publication will give further life to an outstanding project, while illustrating for readers the subtle weave of community with art and the spirit.”
Three British Mosques will be on display at the Venice Biennale from 22 May – 21 November 2021.

Find out more about the Three British Mosques pavilion on the V&A website.