The research program and cultural project Global Prayers (Katrin Klingan, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Professor Dr. Werner Schiffauer and Dr. Stephan Lanz, both Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, in cooperation with metroZones – Center for Urban Affairs) explored the propagation of new urban religious communities in the world's metropolises within the past three decades. It was supported by the Forum 2010-2013.
Anthropologists, sociologists, architects, religious scholars and artists from different world regions collaborated in the project. On the basis of interconnected research in Beirut, Berlin, Istanbul, Jakarta, Lagos, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro, Global Prayers inquired into the structural similarities and entanglements of new urban religious communities worldwide, as well as into their local particularities. The project focused on transformative processes in urban space under the impact of the religious, and investigates the complex interplay between religious developments and urban cultures.
Global Prayers gathered more than 35 artists and researchers. Their work results were presented in the exhibition “The Urban Cultures of Global Prayers” (2011 in Berlin and 2012 in Graz), during the “The Global Prayers Theme Days” (Berlin 2012), and at the final conference “The Global Prayers Congress – Faith in the City” (Berlin 2013).
You will find further information in Jochen Becker, Katrin Klingan, Stephan Lanz und Kathrin Wildner Global Prayers. Contemporary Manifestations of the Religious in the City, Zürich 2013.
