Ze Germans claim responsibility for Brooklyn Bridge white flags

Hey, everyone remembers the Brooklyn Bridge white flags, right? We hope you do, it was only the biggest story of the summer for five minutes until we all moved on to people tying their garbage to the bridge. The question of who done it has been a great parlor game, with everyone from jokey twitter accounts to stoned activists taking responsibility, but the New York Times talked to a couple German artists who claimed responsibility. The artists also gave with some actual proof, a video taken from the top of the bridge that shows the white flag proudly flapping in the breeze. We shoulda known it was ze Germans.

The Times got a confession from two German artists, Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke, who said that the flag thing had nothing to do with terrorism or political statements, but instead was about celebrating “the beauty of public space.” So if you had “dumb fucking art project” in your office pool, go collect your money. Beyond pointing to the fact that they’d done similar projects before, Leinkauf and Wermke provided actual details of how they pulled off the stunt, and provided the Times with photos and a video that appears to be from the top of the Brooklyn Bridge and shows a white flag flapping above.

The two artists say that they never intended to stoke terrorism fears or embarrass the police, which is probably the most laughable, least believable part of the confession. That being said, there are probably worse ways to guarantee that you can never set foot on American soil again without having a black bag thrown on your head once you touch down. In fact, there are tons of worse ways you can organize that fate for yourself.

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