This morning at 10 a.m., in partnership with Creative Time, 21c Museum Hotel Durham hoisted the eighth public artwork in the nationwide Pledges of Allegiance series, Hands on With a Vision by artist Pedro Reyes.
Pledges of Allegiance is a serialized commission of sixteen flags, each created by acclaimed artists to reflect the current political climate.
Reyes offers the flag of the pUN, the People’s United Nations, an experimental conference that applies tools and resources from social psychology, theater, art, and conflict resolution to geopolitics. Unlike the real UN, where delegates are appointed by states and act as career diplomats, the people’s UN welcomes individuals who are connected by family ties or birth to the nations represented at the UN. “The flag of pUN is inspired by the hamsa (which literally translates to ‘five’ from Arabic),” says Pedro Reyes . “This right palm with an eye at the center of it has been a symbol of protection across cultures and millennia, originating in Africa and predating Christianity and Islam. Workers’ and peoples’ movements have often been represented by a hand, sometimes holding a tool or closed in a fist. Here, the hand is open, and its five fingers represent the world’s five populated continents This benignant hand placed over an orb is meant to signal our mission to protect the planet. We invite you to join us.”
As part of 21c’s partnership with Creative Time, a new artist-designed flag will be installed at 21c Durham on the same day the flag is raised at Creative Time headquarters in New York City and at other partner sites throughout a six month period.
In a gesture of solidarity, the flag will be raised simultaneously at the following twelve locations: Creative Time headquarters at 59 E 4th Street in New York, NY; University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum in Tampa, FL; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) in Detroit, MI; Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY; KMAC Museum in Louisville, KY; RISD Museum at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence , RI; California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA; The Union for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE; Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ; The Commons, in partnership with the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS; Texas State Galleries at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX; and 21cMuseum Hotel in Durham, NC. Hamilton’s flag will fly for the remainder of the month before being replaced by the next Pledges of Allegiance flag.
Image: 21c Museum Hotels presents Hands on With a Vision, part of Creative Time’s Pledges of Allegiance. Pledges of Allegiance was originally conceived by Alix Browne and developed in collaboration with Cian Browne, Fabienne Stephan, and Opening Ceremony.
ABOUT PEDRO REYES
Pedro Reyes was born in Mexico City in 1972. He has won international attention for large-scale projects that address current social and political issues. Through a varied practice utilizing sculpture, performance, video, and activism, Reyes explores the power of individual and collective organization to incite change through communication, creativity, happiness, and humor. In the fall of 2016, Creative Time presented Pedro Reyes’s Doomocracy, a house of political horrors, at the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
ABOUT CREATIVE TIME
Creative Time, the NewYork based public arts non-profit, is committed to working with artists on the dialogues, debates, and dreams of our time. Creative Time presents the most innovative art in the public realm, providing new platforms to amplify artists’ voices, including the Creative Time Summit, an international conference convening at the intersection of art and social justice.
Since 1974, Creative Time has produced over 350 groundbreaking public art projects that ignite the imagination, explore ideas that shape society, and engage millions of people around the globe. Since its inception, the non-profit organization has been at the forefront of socially engaged public art, seeking to convert the power of artists’ ideas into works that inspire and challenge the public. Creative Time projects stimulate dialogue on timely issues, and initiate a dynamic experience between artists, sites, and audiences.
