Temple Making

After 6 memorable months working together— the project between Soupspoon, TENT, and Reading Room Rotterdam has come to an end! Our final event, hosted at Verhalenhuis Belvedere, invited guests to come with their offerings, ranging from an object holding a certain memory or intention, to their home deity to build their personal shrines with objects of familiar resonance for Soupspoon— that being of Chinese take-away containers. The containers were adorned with colourful papers, flowers, perhaps a radish or two, while the evening carried on with food (by chefs Maoyi and Avita ) and music (wonderfully selected by friend of Soupspoon, Sofia ). On arrival, guests were given prompts to help guide them through their questions of what makes a Temple a Temple? How does one enter a temple, who is it for, and what kind of space does the temple hold? Guests were invited to hold these considerations while forming their own shrines and invited to fold origami spells/wishes/prayers to send into digital flame, which were collected and later burnt by Soupspoon on the first day of the coming month in the lunar calendar. 

We’d like to express a big thank you to the entire team at TENT Rotterdam for all their support and care throughout this project. Additionally, we’d like to thank all the new connections we have made at Verhalenhuis Belvedere, for their warm welcome into their space and their generous sharing of many of Katendrecht’s stories.
Photos by Silvia Arenas