Friday Sermon

Friday Sermon, is the Kingdom of Bahrain National participation at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia.

The participation provides research on the ritual of the Friday sermon and its influence on public space and public opinion. When thinking about free space, and by extension free speech for Arab and Muslim communities, the Friday khuṭbah becomes a key protagonist, especially as state, law, and religion remain as entangled as ever. From Bahrain to New York. Friday Sermon traces the evolution and apparatus of this ritual of preaching and collective listening, and its’ implications on the transformation of common space, sometimes as an obstruction, others as reinforcement, to the possibilities for free spaces of debate and assembly.

The exhibition catalogue, set in Arabic and English – compiles essays providing scientific content of the exhibition and offers a historical overview of the origins, history and evolutions of the practices of the Friday sermon, as well as its use for political purposes. The essays are accompanied by a portfolio of images by Camille Zakharia taken in Bahrain, as well as archival images of the rituals of the sermon from New York to Amman.