Ostalgia Museum

Simon Starling's work process "Flaga" began in Turin, Italy in 2002, where a 1974 Fiat 126, which he acquired was built and developed. He drove the car to a Fiat factory in contemporary Bielsku-Biala, Poland, home of the Polski Fiat. Upon arrival, Starling replace the hood, trunk, and doors with white parts were produced in the Polish plant. He returned to Turin, stripped of the car and the chassis on the wall, in a representative view of the Polish flag. The resulting piece "Flaga (1972-2002)" represents a social commentary on the changing discourse between East and West in the past forty years.

The Fiat 126 was first introduced in 1972 at the Turin Motor Show as a replacement for the Fiat 500. Opened the Fiat factory in Poland in the early '70s, which presumably work and activities were more cost effective under Communist leadership. The Fiat 126 was not produced for customers in Western Europe after 1982, but continued to be manufactured in Poland until 2000. What was originally intended as an Italian city car became the symbol of the Polish daily life in the Communist Bloc.

The work is being shown as part of the larger concept of the group exhibition at the New Museum called "Ostalgia" - a German expression that describes a longing for life during the era of communist rule. More than fifty artists from twenty countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics are represented in the exhibition can be seen through Oct. 2 at the New Museum in Lower Manhattan.