Automated sound boxes broadcasting the Moslem "call for prayer/muezzin" were installed clandestinely by the artist on five important church towers in Switzerland: Grossmünster (Zürich), Münster (Bern), St. Leonhardskirche (St. Gallen), Wildkirchli (Appenzell), and Kloster Einsiedeln. On July 10, 2007, the boxes, which had been programmed, started to sound the call for prayer from the church towers, stopping pedestrians and disturbing the busy city life.

The media picked up the story and initiated a heated debate on who was responsible for the action. After 24 hours, the artist came forward with a statement. All the boxes were seized by the police. The artist was charged with disturbing "religious peace" under Article 265 of Swiss law.

Background

Ever since 9/11, I have been thoroughly annoyed by the abuse of religion as a battleground in international relations and national politicalconflicts. In 2007, a group of nationalist politicians initiated a referendum to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland (of which only three existed). One of the planned new minarets was supposed to be built in a small city called Langenthal. Its height 5 meters 25 centimeters. I feel that spreading fear among people can only be understood as a lack of trust in the liberal values that matter to me. So I decided to make a statement against those who abuse religion to fight against some of the most important values of our society, such as generosity, tolerance and freedom of religion. Being an artist, I chose the classic artist's strategy: provocation. Farbe und Klebeband.

How to do

Salat started with elaborate investigation of the locations and thorough planning of the deployment of the sound boxes. All the boxes were installed by the artist, who was always accompanied by a camera man. Each of the sound boxes were constructed from two megaphones, an mp3-player, an amplifier, a battery and two clocks, in a plywood box all held together by a generous amount of paint and tape.