Flags of Knowledge is a comprehensive installation featuring a total of 116 colorful flags and flagpoles in 19 different shades of color and four weather vanes. The work is created as a site-specific work for AAU to celebrate and spotlight the faculties in the area, each represented by a specific color: the Faculty of Medicine (blue); the Faculty of Engineering and Science (green); the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (purple); the Technical Faculty of IT and Design (orange) – alongside a number of common areas (red).
The four faculties are marked with prominent flag installations. The central canteens, used by all university students and staff, are highlighted with a specially designed flag in red hues. Flagpoles with flags are placed at varying distances throughout the area, so that one can follow the color path toward the different faculties and facilities. This creates a dynamic impression, where the concentration of flags varies depending on how close one is to central hubs.
Looming up along the bus route on the Campus are four weather vanes, each with a multicoloured flag at the top and each with its own legend: Knowledge, Future, Community and Love.
Weather vanes are simple meteorological instruments, often situated at the top of public, historic buildings, whose practical purpose, on the basis of the four corners of the world, is to show which way the wind is blowing. But the historic use of weather vanes was not only to show the direction of the wind, they also had a symbolic function, playing an important role in ceremonial and spiritual contexts as an instrument to manifest and communicate the presence of higher powers and the impact of the elements.
The site-specific weather vanes at AAU are a striking intervention in the area, where the wind is often noticeably present. As we encounter them on our way to and from the area, they intrude on our everyday lives in a subtle, quirky way.
With Knowledge, Future, Community and Love as poetic landmarks, the work kindles reflection on what influences us and where that guides us, and what charts our course. In particular, the work alludes to the different and as yet unknown – sometimes random, unconscious and mysterious – directions that our path and journey through life can take.
In Flags of Knowledge the flag is transformed from a national symbol into a marker for the academic and social communities of AAU. In this context, Flags of Knowledge is a colourful celebration of knowledge as the cornerstone of our society, and a striking tribute to the communities that flourish in the sphere of knowledge sharing, innovation and critical thinking. Thereby, Flags of Knowledge is also a fluttering reminder of how important it is continuously to question and challenge existing and established conceptions as a vital foundation for our shared future in a complex and constantly changing world.
The project is realized with generous support from The Obel Family Foundation and Sallingfondene.

Photo: Niels Fabæk.