Join us for Prayer (Houston) by James Webb, an interfaith, community artwork exhibited at the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, as part of Makeshift Memorials, Small Revolutions, opening on October 10, 2024. Prayer is a multi-channel sound installation comprising recordings of vocal worship from individuals who belong to various faiths and spiritual affinities from around the city. We invite you to contribute a prayer, chant, meditation, or reading representing your religious or spiritual tradition. Your vocal recording will be conducted in person during a scheduled session to ensure high audio quality for this evocative installation. Share your voice in this powerful celebration of our city’s diverse spirituality.

What is the artwork Prayer?

Prayer is a multi-channel sound installation comprising
recordings of vocal worship (e.g. praying, chanting, singing,
readings, intoning, invocation, etc.) from individuals who
belong to the various faiths and spiritual affinities from around
the Greater Houston area.

These can include, but are not limited to all denominations of
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism,
as well as new spiritual movements and traditional faiths. All
religions and languages are welcome. Several hundred
recordings are made in the course of each production.

Participate:

For more information, contact our coordinator, Zaynab Hilal, at [email protected] or (832) 716-2277.

James Webb’s Prayer (Houston) is co-commissioned by the Blaffer Art Museum, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, and KADIST.

About the Artist:

James Webb is an artist known for his site-specific interventions and installations. His practice often involves sound, found objects, and text, invoking references to literature, cinema, and the conceptualist traditions.

His artwork, Prayer, was started in Cape Town in 2000 and has been presented afresh in 12 cities around the world; Houston being the latest version. The artwork comprises recordings of prayer, song, and vocal worship, gathered from all over the host city broadcast simultaneously from 12 floor-based speakers. The speakers transmit their own separate selection of recordings, arranged consecutively and looped, so that when all speakers play at the same time an ever-changing sound environment is experienced.

Webb has had solo exhibitions at, amongst others, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, 2024; the Art Institute of Chicago, USA, 2018; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom, 2016; and the Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway, 2015. Major group exhibitions include 3rd Monheim Triennale (2023), 1st Islamic Arts Biennale (2023), 14th MONA FOMA, Tasmania, (2023), the 8th and 16th Biennale d’Art Contemporain de Lyon (2007 & 2022), 13th Biennial of Dakar (2018), 4th Prospect Triennial of New Orleans (2017), Documenta 14 (2017), 13th Biennial of Sharjah (2017), 12th Bienal de la Habana (2015), and the 55th Biennale di Venezia (2013).

Learn more:

Photo: Anthea Pokroy taken from Prayer (Johannesburg), 2012.

James Webb’s Prayer (Houston) is co-commissioned by the Blaffer Art Museum, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, and KADIST.