embodied movement: the indiana sukkot project Deborah Ascher Barnstone and Robert Barnstone
paul taylor
william barnstone
T he design for the Indiana Sukkot project was our response to a call for reinterpretations of the traditional Jewish harvest pavilion, the Sukkah. From the start, it was clear to us that we had to try to understand the traditional structure, materials used, construction methods, and functions, in order to invent something new—a Sukkah with unexpected twists and turns and delightful details. The ancient Sukkah was a portable structure built in the fields for the harvest period. Farmers usually camped out and ate in the Sukkah until the harvest was over. Scholars are not quite sure what the original structures looked like—they may have been tents or huts, the Sukkah may be a reference to the tents Jews dwelt in during the Exodus—but it is certain that they were lightweight and portable. Today, the Sukkah is constructed for a week at harvest time as a place to celebrate bringing in the crops. In order to symbolically recall its historic use, the Sukkah is used as a dining pavilion and a place to sleep. We felt that because of the annual assembling and disassembling, the actions of reaping, eating, sleeping and dressing, and the passage of the seasons, the Sukkah is the embodiment of movement both implied and actual. The rules for building a Sukkah are clear: 1 The Sukkah must have at least three sides. The fourth side can be left open. 2 The sides may be of any material, while the roof has to be made from growing things. You must also be able to see the sky through them. 3 The Sukkah must be big enough for at least one person to sit at table.
Since the Jewish Federation of Indiana commissioned the design we decided that our Sukkah should use materials related the harvest that were indigenous to Indiana. We chose to work with the wood from local forests: poplar, maple, walnut, cherry, and oak, and to deck the structure with cornhusks, an icon of the Indiana landscape. We also decided to make the structure quite transparent to views from the inside to the Indiana landscape, and from the outside, to the ritual being performed within. Again, our goal was to anchor this particular Sukkah design in the natural environment of Indiana. The walls for the Sukkah are at once opaque and permeable, giving a sense of enclosure and privacy, yet permitting people standing outside to peer in to witness the ceremony as it transpires, or permitting those inside to observe the surrounding landscape. The visual connection to the landscape reinforces the spirit of the Sukkah as a symbol of the harvest and earth’s bounty. The walls are plastic, fluid entities that push and pull the interior space emphasizing the ebb and flow of natural forces. A unique feature of this Sukkah is the use of built-in furniture, benches and a table, which are used for the daily feasts. The furniture is designed to fold up and leave the space free so that people can sleep anywhere inside. At one end of the structure, there is an opening through which food can be passed directly on to the table. On the other facade there is an open shelving unit on which utensils and the ritual objects can be stored. The placement of the furniture offers the potential for action to take place, the furniture pieces are set pieces for an ancient ritual, traces of human activity in space.
The Sukkah is raised off the ground on two large wooden beams so
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