This is not a flag
A flag, a piece of cloth.A flag, a symbol of honour, power, aggression, obedience, and rivalry.
There is a big spectrum of flag definitions. For some, a flag is a reminder of home and family, a source of belonging and pride. For others, it is a sign of division and exclusion, a reminder of our differences.
What is not deniable though, is that flags in a lot of cases evoke specific feelings of nationalism and patriotism and create more rifts and separation instead of bringing people together.
Galerie Kernweine in collaboration with the The Love Triangle use the same medium, the flag, to examine the concepts and emotions people associate with this symbol, and try as a first step to retranslate it's messaging, in the hopes that in the future we wouldn’t be in need of it.
The concepts of egalitarianism are and should be separable from concepts of honor-related nationalism enabled by such symbols.
By calling into question the very idea of the nation state, "This is not a flag" exhibition challenges viewers to rethink their assumptions about patriotism as unity.
In a world that is increasingly divided along national lines, it offers a timely and necessary reminder that we are all citizens of the cosmos. We are also one species of many, on one
small pale blue dot orbiting one star in an unimaginably huge universe. The least we can
do is be united.
Raising a flag that doesn't want to be one, far from earthly conflicts, at an altitude of 44,000 meters allows us to witness our fragile pale blue dot, in the hopes of provoking a question around the need for such symbols, even when viewed up close.
This is not a flag.
