Aesthetic of signifiers / Divide et impera
2019
196 flags of all the world’s nations
painted in negative colors
oil on canvas | each 45x60 cm
overall dimension 184x2989 cm
Divide et impera
Thilo Droste | Saeed Foroghi
installation
interior: table | MDF, aluminum profiles
exterior: rubber mat
overall dimension Ø 1400 cm
Aesthetic of signifiers is an attempt to awaken our desire to see and re-see images, to see them anew, and to see them in negative colors. A second glance at some of the paintings reveals a collection of national flags. Their colors, however, are inverted. They become visible in their original form only by viewers’ own acts of inversion with either an image processing program or an “inversion of thought”.
The Citizenship ceremony performance symbolically naturalizes people as citizens in front of the flag of their choice. The performances are documented on Instagram: www.instagram.com/saeed.foroghi/
