In Agatha Christie’s 1926 novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd , the repositioning of an armchair helps the detective Hercule Poirot solve a seemingly impossible murder case. And indeed the relation between a mundane object and a certain space standing in a specified sociocultural context imbues the object with an added layer of meaning. In a similar fashion, the forensics of space in the Cave of the Patriarchs, as described in the Shamgar Report, transforms a simple carpet into an explosive material manifestation of an intricate situation governed by the various religious factions and political agencies managing the site. Both examples demonstrate a transition from the simple semiotics of space and objects into the more complex venue of design hermeneutics. The practice of design can be understood as the movement of a complete structure or configuration and its various parts –– an act of innovative translation to an existing part of a structural language. Daniel Dahlstrom’s model of the hermeneutic quadrangle illustrates this perspective, describing language as composed of four elements: the author (or designer), the text (object), the meaning (function and use of the object), and the audience (end users). 5 In this model meaning is created through a shared interpretation or a dialogue between the author and the reader. The constant creation of space in the Cave of the Patriarchs through the use and repositioning of objects, fosters an ever-fluid yet stern hermeneutic situation. The situation in which some objects are constantly in motion (carpets and chairs) while others are strictly static helps authorities politicise and control the various spaces of the cave. In this respect the act of unfurling the carpets uproots space from Jewish hands and transfers it to Muslim hands. This seemingly simple gesture creates a different hermeneutic situation with a nonpolitical object at its core. Again, the interpretative possibilities stem not from the design of the object but rather from its use by the various design partners. Harnessing hermeneutics, or interpretation, to situate a scene in which we find a designed space imbued with various designed objects gives us a more complex understanding of what happens in this unique site. Using mundane objects such as lamps, stands, monobloc chairs, and carpets, the two religious groups define this religious space vis-à-vis the all-seeing eye of the military panopticon. The redefinition of space through design and the use of designed objects in the Cave of the Patriarchs create a ‘complex system of enclaves within enclaves, each characterised by its own set of objects’. 6
Arjun Appadurai uses the phrase ‘commodity situation’ to describe the situation in which this transparent chair (usually white yet on occasion black), its material (polypropylene), production technology (monobloc), function (stackable and lightweight) and low cost, collectively becomes what Roland Barthes calls a myth. 4 Its inconspicuous ubiquity and global circulation make it ideal for creating boundaries, politicising a space and maintaining buffers between conflicting communities. Indeed, one can see from this excerpt from the Shamgar Report that even from the dry and pragmatic perspective of policy makers, the material potential of monobloc chairs is obvious. Their banality of use and low monetary value belie their sociopolitical function. (1) The carpets have the status of religious objects for Muslims, and treading on them with shoes is forbidden. . . . (3) In the corner of the women’s mosque is a footprint attributed to Adam, which can be accessed only by treading on the carpet. This is not encouraged, and anyone who requests access is required to remove their shoes. — Shamgar Report, section 3G 2 hermeneutic situations Contrary to the banal potential of spatial conquest by monobloc chairs, candles used by a Greek Orthodox woman to celebrate the Assumption of Mary, below, allude to a different type of action. Rather than serving a political and aggressive purpose, this woman reallocates space in the glorification of the Virgin. The stairs are transformed from their earthly function into a sacred site. This almost spontaneous act of piety creates a bond between the personal devotion of the woman and that of her community, which attests to their shared faith. The significance of her action is derived not only from the objects and the space in which they are situated but also from her community’s mutually agreed-upon interpretation of what her action with these objects in this space means. (v) Treading on carpets
(d) Chairs and screens
 Apart from its various decrees, the Shamgar Report of 1994 following the Commission of Inquiry of the massacre at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, holds fascinating detailed accounts of the locations of various objects in situ and their relation to the delicate religious balance between Palestinians and Jews. On the occasion of the exceptions, the entire Cave of the Patriarchs is transformed into an exclusively Jewish or Muslim space solely through the repositioning of objects. The excerpt of the report, above, demonstrates how the most basic monobloc plastic chair (as well as the simple action of lighting a candle) in a religio-political space becomes a manifestation of a politicised context and the way a designed object serves to ‘discipline’ one’s actions, to use Michel Foucault’s terms. 3 In the context of the Cave of the Patriarchs, objects such as the monobloc plastic chairs seem so mundane, inconspicuous and undesigned that one might describe them as transparent. Such objects serve a cultural transparency that highlights the political control of the space. (3) The cave contains plastic chairs and folding chairs, which Jewish worshippers move into the chambers as required, but since they do not always return them after use, the soldiers are responsible for returning them. . . . A candle pedestal is situated in the inner court, adjacent to the Abraham Hall. Lighting candles in any other place save on the pedestal is forbidden. — Shamgar Report, section 3G (g) Candle pedestal
Oren Sagiv
Lighting candles on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, August 15, 2005, Gethsemane, Jerusalem. Jonathan Ventura
Isaac Hall of the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs. Men’s section, above, and Women’s section, facing, during Jewish exception.
5 Daniel Dahlstrom, ‘Language and Meaning’ in The Routledge Companion to Hermeneutics , ed. Jeff Malpas and Hans-Helmuth Gander. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2015, pp. 277–86
4 Arjun Appadurai, ‘Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value’, in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective , ed. Arjun Appadurai Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988
3 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison , trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Vintage, 2012
On Site review 35 : the material culture of architecture
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