Flag of Compassion 2002 - present
2023 © rinihurkmans
Following the international conference at the University of Lille, the book Flags, Color, and the Legal Narrative: Public Memory, Identity, and Critique is published by Springer in 2021. The lecture and round table talk about Flag of Compassion during the conference in 2018, have resulted in a chapter about the Flag.
From the abstract: This chapter comprises the·Public Declaration of Flag of Compassion, the·Manifesto Flag of Compassion, and an Afterword by the Artist. The·Public Declaration states how·Flag of Compassion·is a new art form, a new form of public space and a new form of monument. The·Manifesto·is a proclamation written from the perspective of the Flag. In the afterword, the artist, Rini Hurkmans, elaborates on the·Declaration and·Manifesto·as she substantiates her motives, intentions, design and choice for a flag. She clarifies how·Flag of Compassion functions outside the conventions of normal flags and how a common memory is built with a flag that calls for personal definitions. With this artwork, she wants to create space in which different voices and positions can be articulated and made visible. It is an art form that makes heterogeneity not only seen and heard but also effective. It is effective because it reveals the different ways in which people interpret the concept of compassion as well as what they have in common. The Flag functions as an interruption of assumptions and challenges to (re)define positions that have been taken.
Hurkmans, Rini. ‘Flag of Compassion: Public Declaration, Manifesto and Afterword by the Artist.’ In Flags, Color, and the Legal Narrative: Public Memory, Identity, and Critique, edited by Anne Wagner and Sarah Marusek, 573–91. Cham: Springer, 2021.
The book takes the conceptual artwork Flag of Compassion as its starting point and investigates what space an artwork can occupy in the public domain, how it can draw attention to ethical issues in society, and how it can spur individuals and groups into action. Compassion: A Paradox in Art and Society·asks what compassion can mean in the arts, and what role art can have in creating it and spreading it on a social and political level, moving from the theory and philosophy of compassion into an analysis of concrete artistic interventions.
Contributors: Jesse Ahlers, Nick Aikens, Sarah van Binsbergen, Jeroen Boomgaard, Pascal Gielen, Rini Hurkmans, Susan Neiman, Leonhard de Paepe, Judith Westerveld
Boomgaard, Jeroen, Rini Hurkmans and Judith Westerveld (eds.). Compassion. A Paradox in Art and Society. Amsterdam: Valiz, 2017.