Symbols & Signatures
A flag and its symbolism reflect an abstract system, where the narrative of a shared culture is created through colours and shapes. Charged with meaning, they act as anchors for the disoriented, holding value through fictional stories of our collective identities.
Reflecting a dissatisfaction with the national and traditional symbolism of flags, Mundinger is taking a stance by cutting them into shreds before sewing the pieces back together. Consequently, the flags lose their purpose and cease to have a meaning, becoming mere mosaics or abstract fabric paintings.
These ideas of mental frontiers are combined with painting on paper and traces of graffiti writing collected from walls in a public space in Berlin. Those who left their mark thought they were writing on a wall, illegally, leaving behind them clandestine attempts for recognition of their individual identity. Little did they know that the wall was in effect a paper, meant to be exhibited as part of 'Symbols and Signatures' at the Yeoju Museum in South Korea.
Text by Linda Toivio, director of Hosek Contemporary, Berlin.
Curated by Goo Bon Man and Park Bo Kyung
The installation is a further development of my exhibition Sichtfeld at Hosek Contemporary in Berlin, 2019.
