The Flag Stunt

The Berlin artists Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke climbed in the night of July 22 on the towers of New York's Brooklyn Bridge and replaced the American flags up there by hand-stitched all-white versions. The police started a criminal inquiry, but the two artists left New York before they were found out. In an interview with Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times, weeks after the switch, they explained that however the appearance of white flags over the Brooklyn Bridge may have looked, they meant only to celebrate the bridge as an example of “the beauty of public space,” and to commemorate the 145th anniversary of the death of John Roebling, the German-born engineer who designed the bridge. Yesterday the New York City police told ABC News that the removed flags have been returned to the United States embassy in Berlin. No determination has been made about whether Mr. Leinkauf and Mr. Wermke will be charged with felony burglary.