Black Flags



The installation Black Flags traces the history of the black flag as a symbol in historical workers’ movements based on my research in the archives of the former headquarter of the German miner’s union IGBE in Bochum, Germany. Based on the aesthetics of the unions analog educational materials, specifically the format of the “Ton-Bild-Schau”, the video in the installation presents a selection of documents from the archives at the House for the History of the Ruhr. Throughout the video a series of paper-based miniatures, modeled in reference to, and/or as a copy of, the appearing documents, are placed on a grid-pattern surface where they are arranged and rearranged by the hands of the video’s producer(s). The physical part of the installation features a table with the grid-pattern surface seen in the video. In addition to the table a bench and a TV stand with headphones complete the installation. The designs of all the furniture pieces are inspired by historical mining head frames from the Ruhr area.

With its interplay of reference and arrangement, the installation is designed to function as a storytelling device. By arranging and rearranging the miniatures, which stand in for the (archival) documents they are referencing, a search for alternative narratives can become possible. One such narrative, that takes the form of auto-speculative-fiction writing, was presented as part of a performative reading.

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