Locative Media Project
Artist’s statement:
For this project I decided to use a Church (specifically a Greek Orthodox Church because of my connection to Greek Orthodoxy) as the public setting. I came to the conclusion of this project through my love for Hominin Evolution as an Anthropology major, and as an atheist; expressing my thoughts, memories, and feelings on Christianity through art.
Churches are spaces that have historically influenced private and public spaces through interweaving with culture and politics. The separation of Church vs. State is continuously pushed and infringed upon specifically and historically by Christian religious values attempting to influence school, politics, reproductive freedom, marriage equality, and science in the United States of America. In this project I challenge evolution vs. creationism in an unprecedented environment in which they overlap.
When you enter a Church one would expect to hear a service read from the bible, however this service is intended to be different, to essentially challenge the structure of “church”, and further ideologies (creationism) by broadcasting a reading of an Anthropology textbook: The Human Past: World of Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies. The voice reading the text is indistinguishable to be anonymous. Ironically, despite the anthropological focus of the installation, the voice does not sound human but rather robotic. On the ceiling of the church projections of anthropologically related images appear as well as religious iconography.
In this church where religion and science converge I want people to feel surprised and uncomfortable. I want them to think, what does it mean, and how do you feel when people try to bring religion into school, politics, etc., but in this case science has been brought into church. It makes people feel uncomfortable when religion is imposed upon them in school, people should feel uncomfortable by science within a religious environment.
