Paper short abstract:

At the roundtable I would like to discuss the challenges and potentials of new forms of ethnographic and artistic research in urban settings based on the experience of the international research project 'Global Prayers. Redemption and Liberation in the City'.

Paper long abstract:

At the roundtable I would like to discuss the challenges and potentials of new forms of ethnographic and artistic research in urban settings based on the experience of the international research project 'Global Prayers. Redemption and Liberation in the City'.

Global Prayers explores urban settings in which new religious communities and movements have emerged and multiplied over the past several decades. The project looks at the various ways in which new religious practices, communities and movements transform urban structures. Research focuses on urban spaces and cultures as well as on different forms of governance in contemporary cities exploring questions such as how religious practices shape material and social spaces.

Global Prayers is an interdisciplinary research and art exhibition project with a methodological focus on the interface between urban ethnography and artistic research. This means that international fellows as well as artists study and analyse local cases in global metropolises. This collaboration contributes to the development of alternative ways of knowledge creation and new forms of presentation.

Drawing on the experience of Global Prayers' ethnographic and artistic research, I would like to present some examples focusing on methodological aspects and the (re)invention of tools (mappings, sounds, interventions) to discuss the common grounds and differences of artistic and ethnographic research in urban studies.