White Flag (2014), Mischa Leinkauf (1977 -) and Matthias Wermke (1978 -), Brooklyn Bridge, New York
In the height of summer in New York in 2014, two Berlin-based performance artists secretly climbed the Brooklyn Bridge in the dead of night and replaced its US flags with bleached ones.
The incident caused enormous concern at the time, as New York authorities were embarrassed by the security breach. White flags of course stand for “surrender”, so many wondered if the flags were some sort of message from terrorists. People were genuinely scared about what the flags might portend. Others were outraged at a perceived desecration of the US flag.
The reaction was quite stunning for the actual perpetrators, who chose the date of their stunt to commemorate the anniversary of the death of the German engineer who had designed the bridge, John Roebling, in 1869. The artists said that their work was a celebration of public space, and a message of peace. They did not intend to send a message of disrespect to the US. They have documented some of the reactions, including some extraordinary levels of hysteria, in a short documentary, Symbolic Threats.
After a month, the artists finally revealed their authorship of the work, and its purpose. They are now worried that they will be barred from ever visiting the US again.
It is a sad indictment of the media and the world today that a relatively simple artwork should cause so much panic, and loss of perspective. The artists may not have meant it, but their work exposed the fear and irrationality, perhaps worse when mixed with indignant patriotism, that sits so close the surface in modern America.
