Pagoda of Desire

Pagoda of Desire is part of Berend Strik's exploration ofarchitecture, desire, and cultural translation. The pagoda form referencesBuddhist architectural traditions but becomes something else entirely in Strik's hands, a site for investigating how buildings come to symbolizecomplex cultural desires and identities.

Strik's method involves photographing spaces and then enhancing them withtextile interventions that add new layers of meaning. The "pagoda"becomes a lens through which to examine how Western culture has simultaneouslyidealized and misunderstood Eastern forms, a theme of cultural appropriationand mistranslation.

The title's play on "desire" connects to the Buddhist concept ofcraving as the root of suffering, a paradox for an artwork that is itself anobject of desire. This kind of productive contradiction is characteristic of Strik's approach to titling and meaning-making.

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