SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATION
Four poles with flags (Europe, Turkey, Germany, Turkish- Islamic Union) are part of the façade of the building at the Bremer Platz 42 in Münster (Germany). It belongs to the Turkish- Islamic Union of the Institute for Religion (Türkisch - Islamischen Union der Anstalt für Religion e.V. ) and hosts different spaces with for example prayer rooms, classrooms and a café.
Observing the four poles with their flags quickly makes obvious that the flags have not much chance to flutter. Being installed directly to the wall, it is almost impossible to catch the wind properly. The flag's symbolic statement (expressing the willingness to immigrate) becomes even more 'forced' without the alive element of the wind.
In order to change this situation, one of the flagpoles was turned around and pushed into the building behind a large window. The flag of this pole (now inside the building) was animated with ventilators. Like this, a single flag was all of a sudden privileged above the others; it was highlighted, fluttering, unlike the others, in the (indoor) wind. For the duration of the project all (territorial) flags were taken inside for a couple of days. According to the given situation (all involved parties are suspecting of mutual prejudgements) no individual flag was singeld out which felt right; with the advantage that national pride, embarrassment or hostility felt not right, too.
The temporary work was made in the scope of “hbf 2015 häuser / bilder/ fenster” in 2015. It was organized by cuba - cultur, KULTUR in FAHRT and ISG Bahnhofsviertel Münster.
photography: Thomas Gerhards, Helmut Dick