The Earth Has Been Made A Place of Prayer

Artist and filmmaker Aisha Amin brings the experience of a historic Brooklyn mosque to The Shed’s gallery space in this four-channel immersive sound-and-video installation. Masjid At-Taqwa is a 40-year-old institution that is a pillar of Muslim life in Brooklyn, located in a quickly gentrifying part of the Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The Earth Has Been Made a Place of Prayer is organized around four screens interspersing repurposed observational documentary footage, a soundscape derived from the interior of the mosque, and prayer mats facing towards Mecca to reflect the direction in which Muslims pray. By transforming aspects of a previous documentary film by the artist into a physical and 360-degree experience, Amin reconstructs a space that offers a haven, community, and meditative retreat to her and many other Muslim Americans. The installation celebrates openness, transparency, and dialogue between communities as a way to combat prejudice.

The installation was installed in The Shed's gallery space and also reimagined in a public realm at a reconfigurable outdoor theater, Drive-Thru by the architecture firm Soft-Firm.