The Hammer & Sickle [Proposals]
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Once you have developed a clear, coherent and workable proposal, please put it here and we will vote on it on the 11th of February.
In the open meeting, a white-on-purple hammer and sickle was mentioned as a former tongue-in-cheek emblem of some college societies. Having spoken to many kingsmen and kingswomen, the purple-and-white emblem was met with much of the good-humour proponents of the "flag" would say merit it's continued presense in the bar, yet is stripped of the connotations with Stalinism, state capitalism and the intolerable suffering under the soviet regime.
I propose the comissioning of a replacement "flag"- a white and purple hammer and sickle. I believe this has three advantages over the current piece of work:
1) It is a step removed from the association with the injustices and attrocities commited by the Soviet empire.
2) It evokes the mythical history of King's radicalism- both of the Cambridge Spies, the infamous Left Wing presense in the college and the more recent rent strikes.
3) It better captures the ironic juxtaposition of egalitarianism and privilage that many students enjoy; being a symbol of Communism, within a gilt frame, in the colours of a regal and historically socially-exclusive college.
1.) Remove the current hammer and sickle and place it somewhere else.
2.) Replace it with something that people believes carries on the heritage of the college and is equally tongue in cheek - someone mentioned fighting against the "old boy" tradition of Cambridge.. perhaps a satirical picture of Mr. Toad or something along similar lines. (I think having a purple hammer and sickle is perhaps even more dangerous than the current one)
Personally, I think the purple and white idea would be brilliant - definitely amusing, and tongue-in-cheek. However, if we're going to redo the artwork then perhaps the proposition should include the idea of removing the star? I think the point was raised that this was the element which made the image Soviet, rather than Communist.
The Mr. Toad idea would be hilarious too :p
1. Remove the star, making the flag merely a symbol of the workers than of a particular nation
2. Just a red flag. Connotations of radicalism, the Paris commune, etc.
3. Put up a photograph similar to this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pcesarperez/72536640/sizes/o/
emphasizing the hammer and sickle as a symbol of anti-fascism.
Along the lines of the remove the star idea, how about painting over it (in a slightly different shade of red) on the current picture. I think that could leave something that is clearly a piece of art, and then also stand for the change that we as kcsu made in terms of moving on and 'removing' the soviet flag so to speak.
Let's have the anarchist flag instead
1) SIMPLER IDEA: Hang the painting/flag upside down. Flying a flag upside down is supposed to convey a message of distress about the institution it represents, or about the people who put it up. So this would signify a) Confusion about the "hammer and sickle"/soviet ideology - or distress at what an ideal became b) Confusion about King's ideology, or distress at the fact that our votes are being cut on college council/any other highly charged debate the students are involved in.
(PS see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7866938.stm ;) )
2) BETTER/MORE COMPLEX IDEA: If we see the painting/flag as symbollic of King's - in my opinion the most symbolic representation of King's students I've seen recently - is the open meeting minutes. So my second proposal is to mount the minutes, edited, checked with the people concerned, perhaps cut down, and with some quotes highlighted - in an 'aesthetically pleasing' way on the wall. I agree with Steve that the best thing to do is start a conversation - and I think that the conversation is the truly valuable thing, not any one symbol or solution
I really love these ideas. We could even have both.
- Juan
For the second idea, do you mean something like replacing the flag/painting with a new hammer & sickle, superimposed with the minutes from the open meeting discussing it? Or the minutes with the highlighting forming a message/image? Or have I completely missed the point?
During a conversation in the bar last night, the idea was mooted to replace the flag with a genuine hammer and sickle, welded together and mounted in to the centre of the frame; if a little time is taken over this, it could look very professional and "arty". This would undeniably make this an art installation evoking the connotations of socialism and "the workers" that many hold dear, rather than the present national symbol that clearly cause a certain amount of distress to some who use our bar.
Alternatively Lucy's ideas both make sense, though it might be difficult to convey to those unaware of the subtleties of such things, that the first has a genuine connotation rather than being a flippant response to the issue
If we are to eventually conclude that the Hammer & Sickle should be painted over, thus marking the end of an era (albeit an era of paint) at King's, surely we should commemorate this in some way. I would like to propose the establishment of an annual event in which we hold a debate regarding the progression of Communist and left wing ideology, incorporating modern left-of-centre political debate as well as using the day to raise awareness of charities that spread the message of equality, such as Amnesty International. The forum should also look back on the history of liberalism at King's, and include contributions from Alumni and Fellows as well as Graduate and Undergraduate students. I really don't think that symbol on the wall is all that bad a thing, but if it is to be labelled as too offensive and not in keeping with King's today, it would be a shame to lose it all together. An event like I have just proposed would solve a lot of problems, such as that of offending visitors to the college, but if upheld would manage to maintain an important part of our community history.
Apologies if this comment seems somewhat farsighted, but it's good to have a long term plan...
I would propose to leave the flag, so that in a few years, new undergraduates will have the opportunity to discuss about it! = )
I have been impressed by many of the comments posted. I’d like to offer some suggestions:
1) The current artwork should be retained without further action.
2) If there is agreement that there is genuine and extensive offence, both current and potential, then the action should be to place a disclaimer at the entrance to the bar and also that such a disclaimer be made evident via email or on our website to those who intend to apply to be a member of King’s College in the future. Suggested wording follows:
WARNING: The bar inside contains a re-framed artefact from the days when there was a strong connection between members of King's College and Communist Ideology. Fifty years ago the bar was painted revolutionary red and remained so until 2004 when the current artefact was retained and framed in gilt. The artefact contains an image of the Hammer and Sickle which some may find upsetting or offensive. King's College welcomes all to this bar and has no wish to upset or offend, however the image remains as an accurate memory of the diversity of opinion and political view points which constitute the very rich and complex heritage of this college.
*I would also add that the disclaimer is professionally produced and not just a paper print out from a computer.
**Another option would be to adapt the wording for a label to be placed beside the work.
3) I urge you not to encourage a culture of censorship at King’s. Instead I encourage you to understand why this image hangs in the bar, and then find a way to convey that to those who may not already know. To remove it or replace it with something more polite does not represent what past students fought to establish – an environment that stimulates debate.
I propose that a group of King's students create a piece of artwork which will hang next to the hammer and sickle. This artwork will work with the piece next to it to communicate that radicalism has as much to do with an effort to question and it has to do with a commitment to action.
The piece might have, for instance:
a) the date (2010, or February 2010)
b) a question mark
c) a background of the minutes of the meetings and the different kinds of proposals people have made. (picking up on Lucy's suggestion)
The piece does not have to have all of these, but conveys that we are continuing to reflect on our relationship to the college's heritage, as well as the values we want to bring into the future.
Here is my proposal:
- Project the image of the hammer and sickle onto the wall using polarised light, e.g. using an LCD projector with a polar filter in front of it. Make polarised glasses available near the bar entrance. People who take offence can wear the glasses, and for them the picture simply vanishes without having any other side effects. And everyone else simply continues to see it.
- To make the installation really simple, we'll turn the picture into a website; then colours and symbol are really easy to change too:
http://cstein.kings.cam.ac.uk/~chris/hs.html
If you prefer the purple/white version, try hsk.html instead.
The hammer and sickle code point is U+262D (☭). Nearby alternatives include the peace symbol (☮, U+262E), a skull (☠, U+2620) and most importantly a snowman (☃, U+2603).
(I'm sorry... But I'm a King's compsci after all. What did you expect?)
Christian, i like the post-punk geek radicalia. I also like the upside down treatment - then we can always turn it up the right way again if China invades the UK pre-apocalypse. There's some spirit and some creativity in these suggestions. But why this bureaucratisation-mediocratisation: meetings, minutes for meetings, a virtual labrynth of boxes to click and the whole democratic resolution - take the thing down and hide it, will anyone notice? The artefact is already a comment on itself, in its guilded frame housed in the turrets of our regal college; i think that framing happened at the same time that the bar was turned into an airport departures lounge didn't it? ... and NOW this.
Leave it where it is.
Wallpaper and laminate the wall around it with a collage of all these messages and discussions. Would make a cool wall and prevent pool-players from getting bored.
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As I mentioned in the discussion forum, perhaps the Amnesty International symbol would better represent the politics of equality and the value of human life that the hammer and sickle may one have stood for.
Also, since many people clearly feel that the hammer and sickle as a work of art, and as an ironic statement, is such an important part of King's heritage, perhaps it shouldn't be removed all together but moved to a new location. Perhaps putting it somewhere near the A staircase art room would make it a little clearer that it is not to be taken as a pure political symbol, but to be questioned as an image.