Temporary Autonomous Zone

I though I would add some more information on the flag of Christiania seeing as it has been important to my development of this project and already mentioned as a model in one of the comments below.

Christiania, Denmark

The general interpretation for the three dots on the Christiania flag is that they stand for the three ‘i’s in Christiania. This is of course entirely logical but I wonder if it is an act of retro-fitting; it is possibly too neat a solution and it certainly sounds a bit too prosaic. Another interpretation I have heard is that the dots stand for the hippy mantra of ‘peace, love and unity’.

In the Buckingham and Koester video Three Dots & Sandra of the Tulip House or How To Live in a Free State (2001), an alternative interpretation is put forward: That the flag is based on that of the Dutch pirate Jan Janzsoon who raided the coasts of Europe from the Republic of Salé in Algiers during the 17th century.

Flag of Jan Janzsoon

Buckingham and Koester also link the three dots to the ellipsis (…) the pause in speech or the omission in the text: This fits with the idea of Christiania being outside of the normal space of Danish society, acting both as a physical and psychic dis-continuum. For me the point is that none of these answers are definite or authoritative but all add to the exegesis – that within the imagery there is room for interpretation based on your personal relationship with the iconography.

Christiania, Denmark

The other key thing with the flag of Christiania is that it is everywhere, it has become like a brand marking the territory – clothing, buildings and bikes are all marked with the three yellow dots on red.

Christiania, Denmark

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 2:53 pm and is filed under General Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.