Prie Dieu

Prie Dieu (Prayer Bench)

"It's a little dig at rampant consumerism in the name of Jesus and religion during Xmas season, also on financial capital, surveillance and capitalism in general. The bible has been replaced with Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism," says the artist about his work "Prie Dieu (Prayer Bench)". The temporary installation consisted of a genuine prayer bench, complete with books and candles. It was situated in front of a cash machine with requisite CCTV in central Stavanger — opposite Norway's oldest cathedral. The light from the cash machine directly illuminated whoever chose to kneel in front of it.

The actual bench was commissioned and hand-crafted by a small Christian sect in the Mid-West of America and shipped to Norway. It arrived cracked, givng the whole project an added pathos.

“That's me in the corner, That's me in the spot-light, Losing my religion”

Photographs by Brian Tallman.