# Sublime Flesh Symposium by Marcos Cruz & Lisa-Rain Hunt

picture: Yousef Al-Mehdari

An interesting symposium is happening today in London entitled Sublime Flesh: Architectural experiments for sacred and sublime spaces and which is organized band chaired by Marcos Cruz (read his manifesto for boiteaoutils), the new director of the Bartlett and tutor of the famous Unit 20.
The participants are Marjan Colletti, Yael Reisner, Robert Harbison, Ali Mangera and Sir Peter Cook. The background of the symposium is an exhibition which shows work of Unit 20 produced in the last seven years. It includes works by Tobias Klein (see previous post), Kenny Tsui, Yousef Al-Mehdari, Hannes Mayer (current co-editor of Swiss architecture magazine Achitese), alan Chuang etc.
The exhibition related to this even will be visible until April 11th in the Baroque Christ Church Spitafields in London.

Sublime Flesh brings together, for the first time, new designs for contemporary spiritual spaces developed by students in Unit 20 at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. A collection of research projects located in international cities including Istanbul, Rome, Turin, Lisbon, Havana and Miami, each explores a unique sense of sacredness and the Sublime. The complex nature of these themes is articulated in a series of exquisite models that express a new ornamental, spatial and technological approach and also a reconsidered religious and cultural dimension for contemporary architecture design. Sacred Spaces have long been the apotheosis of architectural genius; buildings created by some of the greatest names in architectural history in which stylistic and spatial innovations are revealed and new technologies tested and developed. The theory and theology of Sacred Spaces holds renewed interest in the current historic moment where religious faith is under intense scrutiny.
Sublime Spaces are primarily associated with experience bound up in the powers of nature, but as nature has changed throughout the ages, so has our sense of the Sublime. Expressing grand passions and utopian ideas, Sublime Spaces illuminate the emotional involvement between the creator and the user of architecture spaces.
Housed in the Nave of Christ Church Spitalfields and displaying designs for churches and other spiritual spaces, the exhibition will offer a direct dialogue between historic and contemporary architecture. The exhibition will be accompanied by a symposium in which key architects, historians and critics discuss contemporary architecture in the context of the exhibition. Speakers are Sir Peter Cook, Marjan Colletti, Rev Rod Green, Robert Harbison, Ali Mangera, Yael Reisner, and Marcos Cruz (chair).

Curation: Marcos Cruz with Lisa-Raine Hunt
Exhibition design: marcosandmarjan with Unit 20 (Aleksandrina Rizova, Luca Rizzi Brignoli, Leonhard Clemens, Amanda Bate, Richard Beckett, Linda Hagberg, Wendy Teo)
Collaboration: Johan Voordouw and Wanda Yu-Ying Hu
Manufacturing of Exhibition Tables: Special thanks to Emmanuel Vercruysse - CAD/CAM workshop, Bartlett School of Architecture UCL; and Guan Lee - Grymsdyke Farm + MESA Studio
Manufacturing of models: DMC London, Bartlett School of Architecture UCL
Media: M.A.D. London
Participants: Jay Williams, Sam White, Johan Voordouw, Hannes Mayer, Laurence Dudeney, Kasper Ax, Yousef Al-Mehdari, Yaojen Chuang, Vicky Patsalis, Jason Chan, Kenny Tsui, Tobias Klein, Jenna Al-Ali, Aleksandrina Rizova, Luca Rizzi Brignoli, Leonhard Clemens, Amanda Bate, Richard Beckett, Linda Hagberg, Wendy Teo.
Speakers during symposium: Peter Cook, Ali Mangera, Marjan Colletti, Robert Harbison, Yael Reisner, Rev Rod Greene and Marcos Cruz (chair)

Opening Reception Monday 29 March 19.00-21.00
Exhibition Continues 30 March to 11 April
Opening Hours Mon-Sat 11.00-18.00, Sun 13.00-18.00
(The exhibition is closed on 2 and 3 April for Good Friday and Easter Saturday)
Exhibition Symposium Tuesday 6 April 14.30-18.30
Film Screening Friday 9 April 19.00-20.00