Newswise — An artist will "lynch" the Confederate battle flag on a specially built 13-foot-high outdoor gallows at Gettysburg College Sept. 3.
The lynching - set for 7 p.m. near Schmucker Hall off North Washington Street - will occur on the opening night of an exhibition called "Recoloration Proclamation: The Gettysburg Redress" by artist John Sims.
This lynching, entitled "The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag," will also be the subject of an exhibition closing ceremony on Sept. 26.
The exhibition in the college's Schmucker Art Gallery will also include:
Confederate flags that the Sims has rendered in alternate colors, such as the black, red, and green of the African liberation movement. Two "drag flags" will be in lavender and pink with sparkles and fur.
Sims's "ReVote" installation, which includes his re-colored "Floridian Rebel Flag" surrounded by three of the actual voting booths used in Florida's controversial 2000presidential election.
The artist's revised version of President Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address."
The artist's "Dixie Remix Project," an interactive experience centering on the famous song that begins "Way down south in the land of cotton."
A lecture on Sims, "Razing the Flag: Nationalism and Dissent in Contemporary Art," by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, assistant professor of art history and Afro-American studies at Harvard University at Schmucker Hall, at 5:15 p.m. Sept. 16.
"The 'Recoloration Proclamation' project is about visual terrorism, respect, and collective self-esteem issues," Sims said.
In addition to his work as an artist, Sims is coordinator of mathematics at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla. A native of Detroit, he is completing a Ph.D. in mathematics at Wesleyan University, and holds a B.S. in mathematics from Antioch College in Ohio. He is co-curator of "MathArt/ArtMath," a nationally touring exhibition of contemporary mathematical art.
Images and more information about Sims are available at http://www.johnsimsprojects.com.
"By co-opting the image of the Confederate flag and changing the well-known color scheme to one antithetical to the flag's historical and cultural function, Sims is able to interrogate and re-direct the symbol's power, perhaps altering the viewer's sense of place and belonging," said Dr. Molly S. Hutton, who directs Gettysburg College's Schmucker Art Gallery.
Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences. With a student body of approximately 2,500, it is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.
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