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while a priest was giving an overwiew of all the sacred objects in use in a catholic church, he said one thing i kept in mind:

a church service can be held everywhere, as long as there is true belief. no need for expensive interior. he talked about a church service held in a concetration camp only with a piece of old bread, a small amount of smuggled wine in a tin cup and a soap box as the “patene”.

protestant church services were celebrated in a cave somwhere in germany, when protestants were pursued. in antique times, christians had secret signs for recognizing each other so they could practice their religions.

after the second world war, the architect Otto Bartning constructed 48 “Notkirchen” in Germany, which were designed to still provide a decent place for the church service at low costs.

to me this appeared to be the true christian spirit. it’s about community and common belief rather than representative buildings and expensive pottery.

to bring this back into the church, a room could be created which cold be made for any purpose, yet reveals its sanctity when christians gather in it to celebrate their belief.

the altar as the central object in the room could act as an input device, at first it looks like a normal table (it is a symbol for the table on which the last supper was served) but as soon as the bible (god is present by the word) and the other objects are placed on the table at the right positions, the altar itself and the room start to change their faces.

not only the cross could be shown, and not only the altar could be the object to change… in a church there are lots of media to work with:

sound, light and images on the wall could be considered too.

in many religions the act of ritualised washing plays an important role. in christianity, this ritual is the baptism. christians believe that by the baptism, one is cleansed from the sins and reborn as a christian.

before entering a buddhist temple, you have to wash your hands at a fountain with special scoops.

since water and cleansing is so important in different religions, working with this aspect could be very interesting.

the dramaturgy of the baptism ritual could for example be enhanced by adding a medial part to the baptistry. to point out that the important part here is the water, the water itself could be the medium to communicate content related to the ritual, such as baptism prayers or religious pictures or even animations symbolizing the cleansing procedure.

this principle can be easily transferred onto other religions’ rituals an would point out the similarities between them all.