BRiefs
Biblical art and music fill traveling “tent of meeting”
A huge tent filled with sounds and images of Islamic, Jewish and Christian themes is touring the United States, Canada, Israel and several other countries. Called “The Tent of Meeting,” the unique indoor canvas exhibit will be on display through at least 1987.
Cultural and artistic traditions of the three monotheistic religions are represented individually on each of three 40- by 13-foot walls of the enclosure. Music composed by David Hykes is played continuously as part of the presentation. The music as well as the art reflects motifs from the three religions. “My purpose,” says Michele Zackheim, initiator of the project, “was to celebrate people’s diversity, not to deny it.”
A climb up Mt. Sinai inspired the work of art, says Zackheim, a Jewish artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico. “It was an exhilarating experience,” she recalls, “to stand on the summit, a small area sacred to Jews, Moslems and Christians.”
Created as an environment where people and religions can meet, Zackheim’s tent embodies several Middle East traditions. In the biblical “tent of meeting,” set up by Moses outside the Israelite camp, the prophet met with God (Exodus 33:7). The Islamic faith spread among desert communities, most of whose inhabitants lived in tents. The tent also recalls the desert shelters of Christian ascetics.
Each wall of Zackheim’s 1,100-square-foot tent is covered by a collage of images within images. There are some 250 visual narratives—or vignettes—in all, with each vignette assembled from images drawn from four to ten sources.
The project took about two and a half years to complete. First, Zackheim collected images from books, Bibles and old prints. Then, after careful research and consultation with specialists in the three religions, she assembled these images in collages that reflect the sacred literature and folklore of the three religions.
The collages were then enlarged and copied onto strips of canvas, which were stitched together to make the tent. Once the tent was sewn, the images were colored with acrylic paint. Twelve people worked nearly five months painting the tent under Zackheim’s supervision.
Visitors enter the tent facing a depiction of Judaism, the oldest of the three religions. Here gigantic cherubim wings are spread, with 70 vignettes showing events from the creation of the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1:14–16) to Elijah’s ascent to heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:12–13). The wings are supported by pillars of fire and clouds, and between them stands Mt. Sinai.
On the wall of Christian vignettes, to the right, four trees, symbols of the tree of Jesse, display “fruit”—a profusion of 101 images, ranging from Esther interceding for her people (Esther 7:3, 8:6, 16) to the coming of the Kingdom of God (Luke 17:20–21).
True to Islamic practice, the left wall depicts no humans or animals. Instead, there is Mt. Arafat (the Mount of Recognition where devout Moslems pray on the ninth day of their pilgrimage to Mecca)a and, arranged on five screens, ornamental, floral and architectural images illustrating 81 passages from the Koran. Four prayer and amulet scripts and the names of God and Mohammed are shown in calligraphy, ornamentation, or both.
David Hykes’s “Harmonic Meetings,” a symphonic work for seven unaccompanied vocalists, forms an integral part of the Tent of Meeting. Each of the singers has learned to sing several notes at once, a vocal technique used by certain Tibetan monks and in Mongolian music. With this difficult technique, the singers make explicit the higher “overtones” or “harmonics.” that form part of any note played or sung. Because overtones also create tone quality, Hykes’s musicians can sing instrumental sounds—thus the term symphonic work.
Based on the musical heritages of the three monotheistic religions, the composition includes Jewish, Christian and Moslem soundtracks. On special occasions, Hykes and his choir perform live in the tent.
John W. Cook, professor of religion and the arts at Yale University, notes that Zackheim’s “vision is not hidden in abstractions, but specifically embodied in obvious images originally reinterpreted within an environment, a reception hall where people and religions meet.”
The tent “is full of the evocations of the Paradise that human imagination has created through many centuries,” comments Talat Sait Halman, a poet, historian and translator who currently teaches Turkish history at the University of Pennsylvania.
“In its totality, the Tent of Meeting…is a rare artistic achievement which unites history, theology and fantasy,” writes Raphael Patai, a noted biblical scholar who has taught at several American universities and at Hebrew University.
The exhibit opened on April 11, 1985, in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. From February 14 to April 6, the tent will be “pitched” at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi; and from May 15 to June 30 it will be at the Conference Center in Ottawa, Canada, and from September 27 to October 25 it will be in St. Paul, Minnesota. Visits are also planned for Jerusalem, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, although not all dates have been set yet. For more information about the tent or its schedule, write to the Tent of Meeting, P.O.B. 8518, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504. Telephone: (505) 988–8084.
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