The flag has a long tradition of different uses and meanings. Flags are commonly used to transmit signals, to identify countries, regions or cities, or to visually demarcate a territory. Flags can define or transcend borders and are also frequently used to represent political ideas and beliefs. 

In the context of the European Design Festival, which will take place in Luxembourg in 2023, Cercle Cité in collaboration with Greylight Projects (Heerlen, NL) proposes an off-site exhibition What the Flag?! in Luxembourg.

The flags, works by invited Luxembourgish artists and designers, will be mixed with existing artists’ flags, which are part of the archive of the What the Flag?! project which has taken place in the city of Heerlen and art organizations in the Euregion (DE, BE, NL) since 2021. The artists and designers are invited to respond from their own work and vision of the medium “flag” within the context of the location in which they are shown. They are asked to question the flag not only formally but also conceptually, transposing and reevaluating their practice onto this specified medium and the public space. 

The flags will be placed between the central locations of the European Design Festival 2023 in the city of Luxembourg (Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain, Rotondes, Cercle Cité, Schluechthaus, LUCA) forming a route that the public can follow with the help of a map, available at the Ratskeller exhibition space starting May 15.

The What the Flag?! project initiates an artistic and creative exchange beyond borders and its Luxembourg edition will see the project transposing itself onto a new and exciting city in the context of a European festival.

The opening of the exhibition will take place on May 15 at 5.30 p.m., in the main entrance of the Cercle Cité (Place d’Armes).