This Is Not a Theory

In the windows of Art au Centre in Liège, Giuseppe Arnone displays a silent procession of four banners. Hung facing the street, they transform the commercial space into a place of contemplation and confrontation: what is shown here is embodied lives with no decorative purpose.

Two older pennants mark the beginning of his exploration of the banner as a plastic form and a tool of struggle. They communicate with two new artworks that were designed specifically for this urban context. Together, they highlight both the evolution of his practice and that of the world around him. As the aesthetic intensifies, the social climate hardens: the rise of the far right, the normalization of transphobic speeches and the questioning of fundamental rights.

The new banners, arranged in a semicircle, draw inspiration from ancient pennants, coats of arms and antique tapestries. Symmetries, borders and frontal compositions invoke the sacred and power, which are here subverted to convey other narratives. One reads: “Our identities are not theories. They are lived realities.” and “Let trans people live, love, and grow old in peace.” These statements affirm that queer identities are not abstract, but lived, shaped by fear, desire and hope.

The title This Is Not a Theory strengthens this idea: each banner becomes a manifesto, a banner of resistance. The deep red of the walls envelops the composition like a liturgical veil, sacralizing these lives while evoking blood, anger and persistence. The banner ceases to be a symbol of power and becomes a banner of survival, proclaiming loudly and clearly that these identities exist and must be respected.