The flying of a flag is a charged gesture: it can be a political marker of territories and identity-building for communities, but it can also be a banal advertising medium or pure decoration. How do we interpret a group of waving flags in times of social divisions and political polarization? In view of this, questions of participation in public space are extremely topical. Raul Walch uses abstract geometric patterns for the design of his flags and thus offers an open, community-creating reading. He is just as interested in the activist potential inherent in his installation Dressing the Wind, linking it to ecological considerations. The installation consists of lightweight textiles that he has recycled from previous works and integrated into new ones. The forces of nature also play a role: the wind becomes an actor and helps to shape the work, making the flags dance, sometimes in time, sometimes all on their own.
Raul Walch's social commitment is also evident in various works within the exhibition space. For the Azimut project, the artist worked with groups of refugees at the Greek border in Idomeni and on the island of Lesbos. On the coast, they collected remnants of tarpaulins and tents and used them to build kites that can serve as warning signals for the coast guard and consequently for the rescue of people on the run. A kinetic mobile made from the material of this collaboration and a series of photographs bear witness to his interest in mechanical principles: never at a standstill, always in motion.