Mosques Today. The brief, and socio-political responsibility.

Mosques Today.The brief, and socio-political responsibility.
Symposium + Panel Discussion

Date: Fri, Sep 4, 3-9 pm
Venue: Az W, Podium
Admission free!

The heavily discussed mosque in the Lower Austrian spa town of Bad Vöslau is to open soon, and when it does it will still only be the third building of its kind in Austria. While Germany is experiencing an unparalleled building boom in the sector - with 184 mosques currently under construction or in planning - Austria is lagging well behind this pan-European development. What is ignored is a frequently obvious fact, despite all the polemics: Muslims also prefer suitable places to congregate for prayer in place of rear courtyards or disused factory halls. In the final analysis, such buildings also pose the question of public perception, which at best finds its manifestation in the transparency of the architecture.
In his book \'Euroislam-Architektur. Die neuen Moscheen des Abendlandes\' (published in 2008) Christian Welzbacher calls for a debate on quality aimed at a contemporary form for Islamic sacral architecture - as there are hardly any architectural restraints dictated by religious tradition.

Programme of Symposium (lectures in German)
Speakers of Welcome Address:
Dietmar Steiner (director of the Az W),  
Ashley White (Public Diplomacy Officer for Austria, Germany and Switzerland, US-Department of State, Washington, DC)

Speakers:
\'Euro-Islamic Architecture\' Christian Welzbacher (art historian and writer, Munich),
\'Mosque as Identity\' Azra Akšamija (artist and architecture historian, Aga Khan Programme for Islamic Architecture, MIT Cambridge/USA),
\'The Mosque as Will and Vision\' Hüsnü Yegenoglu (architect, Univ. Dozent Technische Universität Eindhoven),
\'Islam in Austria and Europe\' Sabine Kroissenbrunner (head of the Task Force für den Dialog der Kulturen im BM für europäische und internationale Angelegenheiten, Vienna).

Panel Discussion:
A panel discussion follows with the speakers, and guests: Omar Al-Rawi, Member of Parliament with special responsibility for Islamic integration, a representative of the Muslim community in Austria, and Christoph Prinz, mayor of Bad Vöslau.
Moderated by Gudrun Harrer

With the kind support of the U.S. American Embassy in Vienna.

copyright:
© Wilfried Dechau