FAHNENFLUCHT

FAHNENFLUCHT (Desertion), 2026
Single-channel video, colour, sound, 38 seconds, 9:16

Four flags on street lamps: the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the European Union. The wind has done its work, and no one has replaced them. Tatters flutter above the white scrolls of a festive light ornament, under LED lamp heads that look down like surveillance cameras.

The flags gather into a bouquet, then the fabric dissolves. Poles, arms and lamps remain standing.

Each flag hums in the mains frequency of its own grid: 60 hertz for the United States, 50 for Europe. Switzerland too. As the flags pile up, the hums beat against one another. When the cloth is gone, one tone is left, then silence.

Fahnenflucht is the German word for desertion, literally fleeing the flag. Here the flags leave first.

Footage, concept and direction: Barbara Hennig Marques.
Montage and sound executed with AI.