In the fifth year of collaboration, La Biennale di Venezia and the V&A present ‘Three British Mosques’. Responding to the theme ‘How will we live together?’ set by Lebanese architect Hashim Sarkis, the 2021 display explores contemporary multiculturalism through three adapted mosque spaces in London, whose stories are told within the setting of a pavilion installation.

In collaboration between author and architect Shahed Saleem (School of Architecture and Cities at University of Westminster) and artist filmmaker Julie Marsh of CREAM, the pavilion looks at the self-built and often undocumented world of adapted mosques. Through 3D architectural reconstructions, films and interviews, the installation explores the case studies of Old Kent Road mosque, housed in a former pub; the Brick Lane mosque, a former Protestant chapel then Synagogue; and Harrow Central mosque, a purpose-built space that sits next door to the converted semi-detached houses it used to occupy.