In search of sacred spaces
In a video from Burning Man, the quirky Nevada desert festival, a naked man rides past on a bicycle. A woman in sunglasses wears a hat that looks like a salad. A lean young man comments on the festival at large: “This is the ultimate expression of human nature.” In another video, this one of a windswept English coastline at night, dozens of lighted tents glow near the ruins of a castle. People stroll reverently around, like worshippers in an outdoor church. Can temporary public space have a spiritual dimension? If so, what is the role of the artist in creating it? Those questions were at the heart of “Sacred Spaces,” a public conversation between installation artist Helen Marriage and Rahul Mehrotra, professor of urban design and planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). The March 29 event was part of a series of such conversations on creative disruptions to daily...