Unbeknown to most Saint Louis University students, the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art celebrates one of the missions of the Society of Jesus every day of the week: “service of faith, the promotion of justice and a dialogue with the other religious traditions of humanity.”
Free to the public Monday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., MOCRA promotes this same mission. MOCRA is the world’s first museum of interfaith contemporary art and, consequently, has received local and national attention.
The museum was originally a chapel, built in 1954 for Jesuits residing in Fusz Memorial Hall. When the Jesuit population on campus dwindled, the chapel was turned into a student dormitory and was used until 1990. After a brief period of dormancy, the chapel reopened in1993 with a modern yet tranquil d?cor and a new purpose conceived by Terrence Dempsey, S.J.
Dempsey explored the re-emergence of religious themes in contemporary religious art. While pursuing his doctorate degree, he returned to SLU, already knowing a number of artists willing to display their pieces, many of which Dempsey had studied. These artists were interested in “art that asks questions respectfully about religion, spirituality, God and the meaning of human existence,” said MOCRA assistant director David Brinker.
Brinker said that the Church once feared that contemporary artists would be disrespectful and attack religion. “Since the Renaissance, the Church was less and less a patron of art, but by the 20th century, the Church took an antagonistic role and wanted to control art, out of this fear,” he said.
Following Dempsey’s vision, the 5,000-square-foot chapel still contains its original twelve side chapels and altars, creating “ongoing dialogue between contemporary artists and the world’s faith traditions and serving as a forum for interfaith understanding,” according to the museum’s current statement of philosophy.
With the approval of the University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., Dempsey was granted the space and invited the “brave artists” to display what would be some of MOCRA’s most memorable exhibits. For example, in 1994, their exhibit “The Spiritual Art in the Time of AIDS” addressed the fears and misunderstandings of the syndrome, in a spectrum of perspectives including religion, race, sexual orientation and gender.
Even the museum’s stained-glass windows, on opposite sides of the rectangular chapel, illuminate two biblical perspectives: the New Testament and the Old Testament, “which are meant to be in dialogue,” said Brinker.
Until March 12, MOCRA will display the works of American abstract artist Arshile Gorky, whose style resembles Picasso.
An artist of the 1930s, Gorky explored the innovative sensibilities of his time; his work creates an opportunity for dialogue between his world and today’s.
Next fall, MOCRA will welcome back Andy Warhol’s well-renowned “silver clouds.”