MASS MoCA presents a truly monumental and uniquely American sculptural installation by Dave Cole. Cole is in residence at MASS MoCA with his project The Knitting Machine which comprises two excavators specially fitted with massive 20’ knitting needles. The product of The Knitting Machine is an oversized American flag – a flag which can be seen as both a celebratory gesture of pride and a commentary on America’s role in world affairs.

Dave says

The Knitting Machine combines the feminized domestic American tradition of knitting with the grandiose gesture of construction usually associated with masculine labor. The Knitting Machine challenges familiar notions of labor and production, while expressing a complex understanding of patriotism

Also on show is an installation piece entitled Memorial Flag (Toy Soldiers) (2005), a 5 ’ x 9-1/2’ foot flag crafted of 18,000 plastic toy soldiers wrestling beneath an impermeable glaze of red, white and blue. From a distance, Memorial Flag (Toy Soldiers) becomes an impressive display of an American icon, the flag. Up close, Memorial Flag reveals its source of texture – plastic men wielding guns. The flag complies with the exact specifications for an American flag as specified by the US Military and makes an interesting statement on the process by which the flag came into being and by which it is maintained.

(via Art-Daily)