Iconostasis
TEAM: Aashti Miller – Nationality: Indian
-FINALIST of BUYING Competition
Where your treasure is, your heart will be also – Matthew,6:21
Hashtags: #yeIsRisen #churchMerch #keepingUpWithTheKoran #askAndYe_ezy_ShallReceive #blackFridaysMatter #blessed
Description:
In early Christianity, the Iconostasis was a screen that separated the nave from the sanctuary of a church, a role now usurped by iPhones, pervasive advertising, and social media. Religion and consumerism are now two sides of the same coin, with a consumeristic form of life performing the religious function of providing man with fleeting answers to the existential problem of meaning. To elaborate, consumption today is more than simply buying goods: it is a means of circulating symbols, meanings, identities, and belonging. Thus, like religion, consumerism is reinforced as a symbolic language. The use of this ‘language’ has enabled the creation of man’s personal identity, and is therefore tied to humanity’s quest for authenticity and expressivity.
With dying malls being turned into churches, and abandoned churches being transformed into nightclubs, one further questions the inextricable nature of these two primary forces that have dominated the Anthropocene. Iconostasis acknowledges (and celebrates) humanity’s suspension in these commercialized webs of significance that it has spun for itself. Perhaps the answers to our social, existential and transcendental questions lie within these complex webs. We must ask – should we worship www.amazon.god with reverential awe? (*all introspection to be posted on Twitter).
