I Pledge Allegiance

Collaborator: Melissa Dolin

Description: Our project consisted of two TVs turned towards eachother as seen above. On one TV we displayed a survey of "americans" reciting the pledge of allegiance. The other TV on the left reacted to the participants by displaying a flag waving in the wind and slowing down when the volume of the allegiance was quiet, and conversely, speeding up when the allegiance was loud.

Here is a movie of the installation.

If you would like to see the participants pledge of allegiance's more clearly, ask me to see the DVD.

Our project revealed a lot about American culture. As we were interviewing each participant it was easy to see that when memorizing the allegiance as a child, they learned the words, not the meaning. A common mistake was instead of saying "Indivisible" people would say "individual" which means the exact opposite in context.

Our piece shows an irony in patriotism. Even though people were forgeting and contorting the pledge of allegiance- which should be considered very unpatriotic- their "mess ups" were making the flag soar, and only when they were silent, the flags would stop. So, maybe our piece reveals the importance of free speech and in encouraging free speech- even if it is through transforming the pledge- we are supporting one of the founding principles of America- which in my mind- is extremely patriotic.