14 Jun 2010

'There is no flag large enough' at ISCP

On US national Flag Day, the project 'There is no flag large enough' presents artworks by Alberto Borea (Perú), Stefano Cagol (Italy), Maryam Najd (Iran / Belgium), all current resident artists at International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP).

In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.
A flag is a graphic symbol or a piece of fabric on the top of a pole. It's a simple element that assumes unlimited forms and that contains a complicated universe of meanings. It is a symbol of specific belongings, but its role can change in different historical moments: it can represent cohesion and identity, but also political influence, religious predominance, war power, domination…

The only possible definition of a flag is a negation used by American historian and activist Howard Zinn (1922 – 2010) 'There is no flag large enough…' that we choose as starting point of this project.

This sentence becomes also the title of last chapter of the veritable saga that Stefano Cagol is dedicating to the flag par excellence – the stars & stripes flag. In his new video presented for the first time, this subject of our era looks multiplied and identified by a never univocal meaning, it becomes something scaring or exactly the opposite.

Alberto Borea shows a video in which the landscape and the apparition of a flag make a new composition and a new lecture of the space. This video is part of the series called 'Blind Monuments.'

Educated in Persian miniature, Belgian/Iranian artist Maryam Najd created 192 small-scale abstract paintings of the different flags of the world for her Non Existence Flag Project. As part of this large-scale project, she presents 'Universal Flag' to replace the symbolic unity for the world with no emphasis on borders or policies.


Alberto Borea (studio 213 at ISCP) was born in Lima, Perú. He received his BA in painting from Corriente Alterna School of Fine Arts in Lima. He lives and works between Lima and New York.

Stefano Cagol (studio 104 at ISCP) was born in Trento, Trentino South-Tyrol, Italy. Studied in Bern, at Brera Academy in Milan and at Ryerson University in Toronto. He lives and works in Italy and Brussels.

Maryam Najd (studio 209 at ISCP) was born in Teheran and moved to Belgium from Iran in 1992. She was graduated from Academy of Fine Arts and from the Higher Institute of Fine Arts (HISK), both in Antwerp. She lives and works in Antwerp.


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With the support of:
Terna Prize, Italy
Ministry of Culture of the Flemish Community, Belgium