The fourth event of the Here Together project is a venture that will explore the construction and realization of religious space in contemporary culture. Architecture of Beliefs and Rhythms of Ritual is the Theology component of the project and will see staff and students of Carlow College, St Patrick’s, I.T. Carlow and Waterford I.T come together in collaboration.
Taking ancient and contemporary religious sites in County Carlow as its subject matter, this project will look at questions that arise around spaces and places that are marked out and celebrated as sacred. Participants in the project will visit, analyze and critique a number of such sacred sites that have been set a-part in order to ritualize significant moments of life, during a tour on Friday, 15th March . Site visits around County Carlow will include: Holy Wells, Monastic Ruins, Graveyards, Churches, and other contemporary sites of worship. Cork based poet James Harpur and local Carlow artist Bridget Flannery will join us for this inspiring tour of local sites that will bring together word, vision, and place.
Our use of sacred spaces exhibits an implicit theology and reflects a foundational understanding of the human condition. We see this reflected, for example, in changes to these spaces as they are modified in harmony with the changing dynamics of contemporary culture. Historically, the design and structure of sacred spaces have often reflected a hierarchical, platonic worldview; this, however, of late, has been modified and adapted so as to reflect a new social ordering that is centered on the communal, which rhymes better with contemporary culture. It will be evident that sacred spaces and the people who inhabit them are constantly subject to change.
This will be the fourth event of the ‘Here Together’ project following on from the ‘Debate in the Agora,’ last December in I.T. Carlow; ‘Carlow Song Cycle,’ a commissioned work sponsored by the Arts Council of Ireland which premiered in VISUAL in January; and ‘Exploring Gender Identities and Discrimination’ as part of the upcoming International Women’s Day event in the College.
