Squint/Opera, the creative studio, has created a new series of immersive installations for The Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. With a mosque, church, synagogue, and interactive forum, The Abrahamic Family House is an inspiring location. Visitors can take guided tours and see exhibitions, and take part in activities which seek to encourage knowledge sharing.
Squint/Opera was commissioned to create immersive media for three installations at the cultural complex, to explore Faith, Word, Light and Place in the context of the three Abrahamic religions.
The architecture of The Abrahamic Family House was designed by Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye, and the elegance and beauty of this building formed a key inspiration for Squint/Opera’s media.
Representing religious journeys
Squint/Opera’s installations examine religious experiences in everyday life, the significance of light, the power of the written word, and the gathering of faith communities in places of worship.
Across three separate faiths, they each exhibit qualities of shared humanity. They are profoundly rooted in The Abrahamic Family House’s core values of peaceful coexistence, mutual understanding, empathy, and acceptance.
The three installations comprise:
Faith The first installation consists of 11 dynamic, petal-shaped AV screens. On these, specially commissioned films explore key life events in the religious journeys of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism – from coming-of-age ceremonies to pilgrimages. The films are played across the 11 screens and encourage visitors to move around the exhibit and explore the different rites, rituals, and perspectives.
Religious journeys are symbolised by particle effects, which scatter through the film footage. These particles are seen singly at the beginning of the installation, before grouping together over the course of the journey to represent festivals and pilgrimage.
Word focuses on the holy books of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The exhibit presents nine excerpts from the Quran, Bible, and Torah.
Place considers the link between religious spaces and faith. Here, various prayer environments are shown on two immersive LED screens which stretch onto a plinth and the ceiling. Places of prayer, such as the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, are initially shown in wide-angle drone footage. Slowly, the footage traces a path further and further into the space, as a metaphor for the religious journey. This shift represents the different forms of worship – from collective events to private prayer.
Soundscape collaboration
In addition to the three installations, Squint collaborated with Coda to Coda to create a unique soundscape for The Abrahamic Family House.
In this installation, titled Spirit and Light, religious leaders were recorded reading from their holy texts. This piece considers the vital roles that light and symbolism play in religion and worship.
In pre-production, the project used VR technology, Squint’s Virtual Twin, to produce a 360-degree, 3D image of the actual exhibition space. This allowed the crew to see how the different edits and effects would appear in the exhibition space and in real time.
For this project, Squint/Opera was granted exclusive filming access to Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. The crew shot in the landmark mosque at night and at dawn. Before service began, they were able to finish filming in the Ablution rooms, on the prayer carpets in the prayer rooms, and in the central courtyard. This allowed the team to produce unique videos and images of the atmospheric site.
Lord Cultural Resources, the world’s largest cultural professional practice, also provided its expertise to the Abrahamic Family House project.
Squint/Opera recently collaborated with a new national museum in Oman. Located in Nizwa, Oman Across Ages tells the story of the country’s rich history through over 50 media pieces, including interactive exhibitions, films, cartoons, and even a virtual reality experience. The project took five years to produce, working closely with Omani experts.
All images courtesy of Squint/Opera
