Pledges of Allegiance

Blue Star Contemporary is please to stand with Creative Time and its project Pledges of Allegiance in hoisting Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Untitled 2017 (fear eats the soul) (white flag), 2017, Nylon and polyester poplin, hand appliqué, 48 in. x 72 in. on April 4, 2018. Pledges of Alligiance is on display through April 24, 2018.

Pledges of Allegiance, launched by Creative Time, is a serialized commission of sixteen flags, each created by acclaimed artists. Conceived in response to the current political climate, Pledges of Allegiance aims to inspire a sense of community among cultural institutions, and begin articulating the urgent response our political moment demands. Each flag points to an issue the artist is passionate about, a cause they believe is worth fighting for, and speaks to how we might move forward collectively.

Participating artists include Tania Bruguera, Alex Da Corte, Jeremy Deller, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Ann Hamilton, Robert Longo, Josephine Meckseper, Marilyn Minter, Vik Muniz, Jayson Musson, Ahmet Ögüt, Yoko Ono, Trevor Paglen, Pedro Reyes, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Nari Ward.

Pledges of Allegiance launched on June 14 – Flag Day. The flags will be raised at varying times in public spaces over the course of a year.

Pledges of Allegiance is presented by Creative Time and was originally conceived by Alix Browne and developed in collaboration with Cian Browne, Fabienne Stephan, and Opening Ceremony.

The message of Rirkrit Tiravanija’s flag is a reference to German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (the English translation of ‘Angst essen Seele auf’). The film first appeared in Tiravanija’s Untitled 1994 (Fear Eats the Soul), a bar he constructed at Esther Schipper’s storefront gallery in Cologne that only served beer and cola. Fassbinder’s two lead characters, a German cleaner and a Moroccan mechanic, meet in the film’s opening scene over the aforesaid drinks, and commence an unlikely relationship that brings out their own deepest fears as much as the xenophobia and racism of their surroundings.

Rirkrit Tiravanija was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961 and grew up in Thailand, Ethiopia and Canada. His practice defies media-based description combining traditional object making, public and private performances, teaching, and other forms of public service and social action. Creative Time has previously worked with Rirkrit Tiravanija on Living as Form.