12. White Flags
This artistic stunt caused quite a frenzy when it happened back in the summer of 2014. The large american flags that adorn the top of the Brooklyn Bridge were replaced by solid white flags and no one knew how or why they were changed. Since the perpetrators would have had to climb to the top of the bridge to make the switch, and they were able to do so without being caught by covering the lights shining on the flagpoles, some New Yorkers were concerned for pubic safety. Eventually, a pair of artists from Berlin, Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke, fessed up to being responsible for the switch. They told the New York Times that the purpose of the installation of the two all white flags, which each had white hand-stitched stars and stripes, was to celebrate “the beauty of public space.” The artist also pulled the stunt to honor the bridge’s German-born engineer, John Roebling, who died in 1869 on July 22, the day the white flags appeared.
