Within contemporary conspiracy theory, the term ‘false flag’ refers to a coordinated deception where mass casualty events are attributed to sources other than those who conducted them. It is a ruse, a theatrical trope, designed to force the public’s hand through confusion and fear-mongering. Among suspected false flags is the Boston Marathon bombing, which conspiracy theorists assert was a staged event designed to deceive the public with the ultimate goal of instigating World War III.
Drawing on tropes of conspiracy and absurdist theater, Rose’s False Flag: A deed in 2 Acts expresses two bizarre but interrelated events presented as an aesthetic puzzle. The performance provokes public perceptions of truth, history and sanity with references to Cleopatra (AKA MaFreaka), Diana Ross as Dorothy from The Wiz, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, Tom Six’s The Human Centipede and Jake & Dinos Chapman’s sculpture DNA Zygotic.
