Varvara & Mar: Chameleon
The New Gallery, Calgary
April 6–May 11, 2019
A large white flag is suspended from the gallery wall, embedded with LEDs connected to a motion sensor, which responds to the movement of visitors, layering the colours, shapes and designs of the flags of different countries on top of one another at random. Entitled , the multimedia work is the centrepiece of (2016) by Varvara & Mar at The New Gallery. By titling the show with the anglicized version of its central work, Varvara & The flag’s size and technicoloured light draw attention from the street and fill the space, cycling through the symbols we are so used to seeing displayed in government buildings, hanging in stadiums and dangling from railings at bars. Here, the flags continually morph to create the ultimate national mashup, a free-for-all where countries blend together in ways they may never on the world stage. Shown partially complete and partially overlapping, the ephemeral flags are both arbitrary and decorative, stripped of the power they hold displayed on their own.
