European contextualising in analytical sociology and ethnographical representation on history and present

Author
Remco Torenbosch

Contributors
Charles Esche, Mihnea Mircan, Council of Europe Archive

January 2014

This fascinating publication is the result of an extensive period of research into the history of the European Flag, opening up intriguing discussion on the changing socio-economics of EU nations, the disappearance of once booming textile industries and the strong individual identities of a union in flux.

Originally conceived for the Council of Europe, the successful design of the flag was later adopted by the European Union in 1985 whilst under the moniker of the European Economic Community. Designed by Arsene Heitz, a French draughtsman at the CoE, and Paul Levy, a Jewish-Belgian Holocaust survivor who worked for many years as the council's Director of Information, the finalised design was presented to the CoE in 1955 at its headquarters in Strasbourg, Heitz's hometown.

This publication profiles the documents, design proposals and written correspondence between Heitz, Levy and further collaborators that would form the painstakingly diplomatic development of an iconic vexillological moment. As part of the book's research, a collection of fabric monochromes woven by weavers from all 28 member states of the EU in the base colour of the flag was compiled. These collated monochromes as such become a map themselves of the socio-economic shift within EU member communities, an embodiment of the disappearing textile industries of Europe.

Conversely, the blue of these monochromes can be viewed as a physical representation of the EU's modernist tradition; its purity laws, it's longing for transcendence and an optimistic belief in utopian potential. This publication is published in conjunction with de Appel Artcenter, Amsterdam and supported by the Mondrian Fund, Amsterdam.