Marcello De Luna writes "The Redesign Project – Press Release July 3, 2004
Weinfelden, Switzerland, July 3, 2004
The Redesign Project is a contemporary art project reflecting on the Bush
Administration’s foreign and domestic policy.
The European artist Marcello De Luna has - by means of a contemporary art project -
expressed his concerns and hopes regarding the Iraq conflict and all that has come with it
(the biased media, the lies, the victims, the deteriorated image of the U.S. abroad, the
hope for the better with maybe a different administration in 2005). He has played on the
theme of the U.S. flag and "redesigned" it to reflect his thoughts about the events that
have unfolded for quite a while now.
The work is published on a web site that has been created for the project:
http://theredesignproject.com. The primary goal of the site is not commercial. It has been
fun to do the project and it's all about getting the designs out to help people who share
this view make a statement - and by making that statement hopefully trigger some critical
thinking in other people leading to discussing different opinions. In other words: The
Redesign Project shares its mission with Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11.
A few words about the artist: Marcello De Luna is a European artist and designer. He used to
live in Southern California for a while, had relatives in Miami, a relationship in Washington
D.C, and has always loved the Unites States. Loving this country, it hurts him to see
what has happened with this nation and its ideals since George W. Bush seized power
almost 4 years ago. It feels almost unreal to see how a majority of people got
manipulated into believing all the made up stories - be it the WMD fairy tale, be it the
invented Hussein-Al-Qaeda connection. But on the other hand: who controls the media
controls public opinion - it's nothing new, it's all been done successfully in the past in this
and other countries. It hurts even more to see how a once free and liberal country has
mutated into a surveillance state not much unlike the USSR used to be.
Being aware of the respect the American people shows for its flag, The Redesign
Project is expecting to trigger some controversy. Art has always been subject to
controversy – for it is also one of the purposes of contemporary art to make people
think and discuss their opinions. Whatever the reaction to The Redesign Project’s artistic
propositions is: It has definitely not been the projects nor the artists intent to hurt
anyone's patriotic feelings - The Redesign Project is a strictly artistic approach."