A flag made of plaster was installed in a Valencia city plaza in 2016. Another pretentious quasi-political piece of art? Finally, a video projection would be screened on it featuring edited material including real war scenes and footage from the refugees on boats crossing the sea to reach Lesvos and other islands. Various countries’ flags would intervene between the shots representing the nations and their borders. In such a manner the artists were criticizing the nations’ laws, politics and the authorities’ actions for the refugee dramas and deaths. After a while the flag would burn in real flames and spectacularly collapse under the sound of music and fireworks while the audience were applauding. The whole concept and its result could be considered a quite inventive example of mix media art performative installation in public space, treating and ultimately successfully commoning such a sensitive subject.
Orestis Pangalos
References
Patrias de nailon, Javier Jaen and Jose Lafarga, Valencia 2016 http://vimeo.com/160366885
