Two German artists are taking credit for last month’s Brooklyn Bridge flag swap. Heck, it was all a tribute to the man who built the bridge:
NYT: But the artists, Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke, say the flags — with hand-stitched stars and stripes, all white — had nothing to do with terrorism. In a series of phone interviews, they explained that they only wanted to celebrate “the beauty of public space” and the great American bridge whose German-born engineer, John Roebling, died in 1869 on July 22, the day the white flags appeared.
To prove it was them, they posted a video:
And since this is the New York Times reporting, the story wouldn’t be complete without a correction:
Correction: August 12, 2014
A headline that appeared briefly on the home page misstated the occasion for which German artists said they placed white flags on the Brooklyn Bridge last month. It was the July 22, 1869, death of the bridge’s designer, John Roebling, not his birth.
RELATED: The New York Times Pisses Me Off Endlessly






Looking north along the riverside esplanade toward the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.
A single, battered
Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce Street shows its Bernini drapery in the morning sunlight. A Machine, part of
The Brooklyn Bridge, seen through the trees.
Looking south along the Esplanade; the skeleton of the shed on Pier 2 is in the background.
Wasp gathering nectar, Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Double-crested cormorant drying its wings on a piling, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Hot pink blossoms, Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Spartina grass, salt marsh, south edge of Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Tour boat Half Moon passing close to Pier 1 esplanade; Brooklyn Bridge in background.
Large flower beside pond, northeast corner of Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Friday evening: lower Manhattan seen from Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park. Sunset reflected from windows of One Liberty Plaza.
Sunset reflected from Empire State Building, seen through Brooklyn Bridge from Pier 1 esplanade, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Rounding a corner of a path, I startled some sparrows. They flew up, then alighted on a fence.
These are rose hips from
Sailing up the East River, a sloop approaches the Manhattan Bridge.
Worker on a cable of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Flowers by the pond near the pier’s northeast corner.




