One interesting fact about the project is that it does
not offer any sort of description for any of these religions,
therefore one must know beforehand what they want to
convert to. It's purely a consumer's product, and choosing
a religion, is like choosing the color of a product;
it is nothing but a personal option. After all, encouraging
one religion would bring favoritism or more severely,
religious discrimination.
By omitting to define or to describe any of these religions,
the piece receives a strong objective value, although
choosing to present only five religions of the world
proves the contrary. What happens to Animism, Taoism,
Sikhism, the Baha'i Faith and many more? Are these less
important then the others and if so, should they be
neglected? From the technological point of view, the
project is complete; it is not missing any piece of
important information the user should have; it even
has an "Accelerator card for your PC," a kit
antivirus, SMS-MMS services (to change your religious
profile depending on your location), or a "kids'
build-idol". The possibility of conversion is attributed
to all public, from the age of three and older, because
anybody can be a potential consumer, a potential buyer.
The concept behind this project is based on contradictory
notions: religion-market, religion-technology, religion-online
user, religion-children. By bringing them together in
this completed, but simple art piece, the artists succeed
in producing a very believable and convincing e-commerce
site. When bringing together notions such as "religion"
and "computer technology", implicitly the
internet, another important aspect to take in consideration
is how new forms of social organization and on-line
communities as social groups develop within computer
networks. So how does religion present itself in this
new modern digital era? Just as the founders of our
modern day religions began to lay down in writing the
basis of each belief system and continued by taking
advantage of the invention of the printing press in
order to spread their religion, so too, electronic media
have become spiritual tools of religious transformation.
Religious communities continue to form very fast and
represent places where people can gather, socialize
and share their spiritual, political or economical concerns
and needs. Instead "Plug'n'Pray" is creating
a digital space where each of the great religions is
equally important, by becoming nothing but a personal
preference. The aspect of community is defined by how
the viewers are invited to interact and communicate
with each other, by engaging in a T-shirt design contest,
surfing an on-line gallery or placing their comments
on a discussion forum, thus becoming part of this large
"holy corporation". The project opens the
debate on the role religion plays in globalization.
Over all, the globalization process stresses an economical
and political character and different religious organizations
respond to this process in different ways: some are
in favour, others support anti-global movements while
others prefer to make their voice heard and carry on
their mission by relying on the new technology and the
new market penetration. An important factor of the globalization
process was the increased migration in the later years.
In other words, this global age can be translated into
a form of cultural harmony, where diversity still plays
an important role. In the same way, the "holy corporation"
proposes a harmonious space where each religion is equally
respected. "Plug'n Pray" presents the idea
of globalization by marketing the great religions of
the world. Or, it subtly makes the suggestion that the
market itself could become a new religion.
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