basic structure and material use, a new conservatism seems to the recent trend. Representational literalness and micro- architectural complexity now constitutes a bizarre architectural model. Dimensions now range from that of a mailbox (the cheapest model on sale) to that of actual structures an adult could easily enter. These new concrete shells are meticulously dressed in opulent materials such as stone planks, brick tiles, plaster reliefs or painted decoration on a thin coating of (what seems to be) masonry on top of the real structure – pretty similar to their modern full-sized references. Is it since the arrival of mass media and the rise of the Age of the Image that the icon has had to become more elaborate and realistic to be appreciated or even recognised? Are the eikonostasia of the 2000’s the Venturian Ducks of provincial highway strips? Appearing like misplaced, out-of-scale churches, their ever- more formal presence almost cancels the necessity of an icon inside. Funnily enough, these mass-produced mutants of what seemed until now to be folkloric roadside curiosities may be the apotheosis of sacred iconicity in its most commercial form. v
These humble religious structures reveal their special character when considered from this point of view: they are micro-architectural objects that signify the sanctity a large church would normally offer. It is interesting that the basic form of an eikonostasio is that of a simple container crowned with the symbol of the cross – the smallest spatial unit required to house an icon, the most basic intervention to make a spot sacred. In recent years, the character of the eikonostasia has changed dramatically. Details started getting more elaborate and geometry became more complex than the mere set of walls, roof and operable glass or plastic opening that used to be enough. Eikonostasia gradually have grown into literal, iconographic representations of churches. At the same time a whole roadside industry of prefabricated miniature churches has arisen. Ironically, its resellers are found mainly along the provincial suburban roads where the accidents happen, and where prefabricated scaled replicas of famous orthodox temples are advertised and sold prêt-a-porter . Whereas the early shrines demonstrated an economy of means and an almost ‘modernist’ character in terms of their
page 28 overleaf: hand-built eikonostasia opposite page: manufactured concrete eikonostasia
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On Site review 23
Small Things
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