An exhibition by the Chair of the Haas Institute's Religious Diversity cluster Karen Barkey on "Shared Sacred Sites" in the Balkans and the Mediterranean will open at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Greece this weekend, and will remain open through the end of the year.
(Read about Barkey's Shared Sacred Sites project here)
As they have done for centuries, Christians, Jews and Muslims pray today in sanctuaries belonging to another religion. Shared sacred sites are a well–established phenomenon in the Mediterranean, revealing the permeability of the frontiers between religious communities. Despite theological differences, the three religions share a number of elements in terms of beliefs, rites, holy figures and sites. These crossovers, however, are not devoid of ambiguity and can sometimes also lead to conflict. The Mediterranean world thus offers many examples of sharing, but also of partition and division.
The three–part exhibition “Shared Sacred Sites” explores this phenomenon by locating it through various examples in different contexts and by bringing forward the entangled places and practices, symbols and figures that define it.
Thessaloniki is ideally positioned to tell the story of “Shared Sacred Sites”, not only because the three monotheistic religions have historically flourished here, but also because today the city finds itself at the Mediterranean crossroads of migration. The three–part exhibition, designed as a sort of ‘pilgrimage’ to the city, reveals both historical and contemporary aspects of “sharing the sacred.”
The Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition, co-curated by Professor Karen Barkey, provides the visitor with an experience that blends anthropological research and contemporary art. The anthropological encounter tells of shrines dedicated to prophets and patriarchs, to Mary and shared saints. The works of contemporary artists present a different locus for notions of sharing the sacred. Photographs, works of art, icons, and anthropological evidence are interwoven to evoke religious coexistence. With contemporary art, the exhibition raises questions concerning the power of religious symbols and practices that stand simultaneously at the core and at the edge of religion and faith.
Based on anthropological field research, different versions of this exhibition were first held at the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (MuCEM) in Marseille (2015), then at the Bardo Museum in Tunis (2016).
Further exhibitions are planned in Paris, Marrakech, New York and Istanbul.
Download the press release for the exhibition here.
