Creative Time Raises Artist Ann Hamilton's PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE Flag

Creative Time has announced the hoisting of the seventh public artwork in the Pledges of Allegiance series, Fly Together, by artist Ann Hamilton. The flag will be raised today, December 13th in partnership with eleven institutions nationwide.

Pledges of Allegiance is a serialized commission of 16 flags, each created by acclaimed artists to reflect the current political climate.

Fly Together incorporates recurring themes in Hamilton's work - birds, indigo, suspensions, fabric, fragility, ephemerality, and thread - all elements that evoke questions of space, collective voice, communities past and labor present, memory, and imagination.

With two songbirds holding cloth between their beaks, Hamilton explores the potential made possible through our own mutual cooperation. She asks, "Using their mouths as we use our hands, perhaps they hold a piece of the sky? We see that to carry the cloth's weight, to allow the cloth's movement, they must hold with gentleness and tenacity. They must work and fly together."

Ann Hamilton's flag will be raised at the following twelve locations:

1. Creative Time headquarters at 59 E 4th Street in New York, NY

2. University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum in Tampa, FL

3. Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) in Detroit, MI

4. Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY

5. KMAC Museum in Louisville, KY

6. RISD Museum at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI

7. 21c Museum Hotel in Durham, NC

8. Ferrovia Studios in Kingston, NY

9. The Commons, in partnership with the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS

10. Texas State Galleries at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX

11. The Union for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE

12. Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ

Ann Hamilton is a visual artist internationally recognized for the sensory surroundings of her large-scale multi-media installations. Using time as process and material, her methods of making serve as an invocation of place, of collective voice, of communities past and of labor present. In 2016, Philadelphia's Fabric Workshop and Museum hosted habitus, a solo exhibition by Hamilton that took place across three sites.

Pledges of Allegiance is a nationwide public art project by Creative Time. The project is a serialized commission of sixteen flags, each created by acclaimed contemporary artists: Tania Bruguera, Alex Da Corte, Jeremy Deller, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Ann Hamilton, Robert Longo, Josephine Meckseper, Marilyn Minter, Vik Muniz, Jayson Musson, Ahmet Ögüt, Yoko Ono, Trevor Paglen, Pedro Reyes, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Nari Ward.

Each flag embodies art's ability to channel political passion, providing a unifying symbol around which to unite, as well as a call-to-action for institutions nationwide to raise upcoming Pledges of Allegiance flags in solidarity with Creative Time.

Pledges of Allegiance aims to inspire a sense of community among cultural institutions, beginning with an urgent articulation of the political demands of the moment. Each flag points to an issue the artist is passionate about or a cause they believe is worth fighting for, and speaks to how we might move forward collectively as a country. To inaugurate the project, Creative Time raised Marilyn Minter's RESIST FLAG on the roof of its headquarters on Flag Day, June 14.

Pledges of Allegiance was originally conceived by Alix Browne and developed in collaboration with Cian Browne, Fabienne Stephan, and Opening Ceremony.

Creative Time, the New York based public arts non-profit, is committed to working with artists on the dialogues, debates, and dreams of our time. Creative Time presents the most innovative art in the public realm, providing new platforms to amplify artists' voices, including the Creative Time Summit, an international conference convening at the intersection of art and social justice.

Since 1974, Creative Time has produced over 350 groundbreaking public art projects that ignite the imagination, explore ideas that shape society, and engage millions of people around the globe. Since its inception, the non-profit organization has been at the forefront of socially engaged public art, seeking to convert the power of artists' ideas into works that inspire and challenge the public. Creative Time projects stimulate dialogue on timely issues, and initiate a dynamic experience between artists, sites, and audiences.

For more information on Creative Time, visit www.creativetime.org. To connect with us via Twitter use @CreativeTime and find us on Instagram @CreativeTimeNYC. To share the project on social media use the hashtag #PledgesofAllegiance.

Photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli, courtesy of Creative Time.