B A N D E R A

Sound piece. 34 minutes © 2010

Jacob Kirkegaard's work BANDERA (flag in Spanish) consists of audio recordings of the flagstaff masts, which are installed in front of the building ‘U.S. Interests Section’ in Havana, Cuba

The installation was designed by the Cuban government to shadow for an electric newspaper, which the U.S. government has used for years to disseminate anti-communist propaganda from the building. However, last year the U.S. government chose to turn off the electric newspaper. The conclusion was that the messages did not reach satisfactory because of the 'obstructions', which had been placed in front of the electric newspaper. They alluded to these approximately 50 masts, all with black flags with a white star in the middle. These anti-imperialist flags could be a metaphor for the wall that exists between two countries with their distinct ideologies. On one side of the flag wall is the U.S.’s only bastion on Cuban soil. In front of the flags is the Anti-imperialist Tribune. In this heavily guarded and inflamed area around the house Jacob Kirkegaard managed to get special permission to place accelerometers directly on the masts. BANDERA feels the pulse of the state between U.S. & Cuba year 2010