the temple of agape by morag myerscough and luke morgan

the temple of agape by morag myerscough and luke morgan
photo by gareth gardner

the temple of agape by morag myerscough and luke morgan
festival of love, southbank centre, london
28th june — 31st august, 2014

the temple of agape is a temporary installation created by morag myerscough and luke morgan that was commissioned by the southbank centre for their summer ‘festival of love’. the temple of agape is a celebration of the love of humanity, one of the seven ancient greek themes of love represented at the festival.

the agape procession begins with a 60m canopied series of love benches which lead to the entrance of the temple. the visitor can then journey through or stop and sit in the dappled lit temple and then proceed up the flight of stairs festooned with banners and signs that form a joyful parade to the next level of the southbank centre. the installation creates the chance for visitors to experience new views and a new entrance to the royal festival hall balcony for the duration of the festival.

the temple is made from a scaffold structure, clad with exterior ply. all the wooden panels were painted in morag’s studio over a three week period with the help of two assistants, lizzie toole & kathryn cross and a group of volunteers.

the temple of agape sketch by morag myerscough
image courtesy of supergroup london

southbank centre’s summer festival will showcase love in all its forms. a series of weekends will explore the seven ancient greek themes of love through an array of workshops, performances and installations.

the seven ancient themes: agape, storge, pragma, philia, philautia, eros & ludos. the finale weekend, is the big wedding weekend, inspired by agape — the love of humanity. to celebrate the year in which same-sex marriage became legal, all couples, gay or straight, young or old, are invited to marry or renew vows on the stage of the iconic royal festival hall.

the southbank team were inspired by what martin luther king said about love: ‘I have decided to stick with love’ and asked the artists morag & luke to incorporate these words into their temple.

scale model of the temple of agape
photo by supergroup london

‘love is the most emotive subject and to be asked to consider how to express ‘agape’ one of the 7 types of love was hugely challenging and thought provoking. agape — the love of humanity felt perfect for us and at the beginning easy, ‘love’ we thought, we all know about it, its all around us, we have felt it and therefore we should know how to express it in our work. but when we started thinking about it and all the clichés how do you do something that is new?’

‘we traveled widely and experienced many types of places, building a temple of love felt right, making a place for joy and noise as well as quiet contemplation. the temple developed very quickly from the initial sketch morag drew [above].’ – morag & luke.

side view of the scale model
photo by supergroup london

‘our temple is bold and brash, telling you to come over and ‘look at me! I’m well-dressed and ready for love! come in, come in!’ the temple stands proud like a peacock with its giant martin luther king quote, expressing the power of love to the world. inside its heart is calm and dappled with light for contemplating complex emotions, a place that can transform with love expressed within.’

‘working on the project has reinforced for us that love in all its guises is not simple. at the same time, when you are in love, it can be the purest and simplest place to be.’ – morag & luke.

the temple of agape – front view
photo by gareth gardner

the temple of agape – detail of the front
photo by gareth gardner

details of the temple
photo by gareth gardner

‘love’ – detail of the temple
photo by gareth gardner

scaffold passageway
photo by gareth gardner

inside the temple
photo by gareth gardner

inside the temple
photo by gareth gardner

tape applied to the scaffold bridge
photo by gareth gardner

side views of the temple
photo by gareth gardner

visitors make their way along the bridge
photo by gareth gardner

visitors can experience new views and a new entrance to the royal festival hall balcony for the duration of the festival
photo by gareth gardner

the temple as seen from the royal festival hall balcony
photo by gareth gardner

‘love’ detail
photo by gareth gardner

view of the love benches which lead to the entrance of the temple
photo by gareth gardner

construction of the temple
photo by supergroup london

morag myerscough and luke morgan (right) with volunteers
photo by supergroup london

panels being painted at studio myerscough
photo by supergroup london

morag with volunteers working on the temple panels
photo by supergroup london

morag and volunteers
photo by supergroup london

morag myerscough and luke morgan with volunteers
photo by supergroup london

drawings of the temple
courtesy of supergroup london

project information
artists: morag myerscough & luke morgan
client: southbank centre
curator: georgia ward, southbank centre
producer: beth burgess, southbank centre
project manager: paul denton, southbank centre
specialist scaffold & temporary works
engineers: tubular techniques limited
scaffold contractor: castle scaffolding ltd
painting: morag myerscough, lizzie toole, kathryn cross and volunteers
construction period : 4th june – 27th june, 2014
gross internal floor area: internal temple area 6m x 6m

more
read our interview with morag myerscough from 2013 »