Prada Marfa Architect Ronald Rael's TED Talk Creates Provocative Dialogue Around Borders

Architect Ronald Rael delivered a thought-provoking 10 minute TED talk in Dec. 2018 about borders in general and the Mexico-US border specifically. It's an excellent watch in these complicated times.

Rael built the famous Prada, Marfa store in the middle of nowhere. I've written about Marfa but never understood until now -- with further reading -- that 1) Prada, Marfa is made primarily of dirt; and 2) Prada, Marfa was a deliberate political installation, as well as an art installation in an upscale, educated, artistic place in Texas. You MUST read the next two paragraphs. Marfa link also in comment:

Visiting Rael’s website, I learned so much more about the political experience of creating the Prada Marfa store.

“ On July 13, 2005, 22 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border, patrol agents from the Marfa Sector of the United States Border Patrol surrounded five people traveling through the Chihuahua Desert in West Texas. Suspecting illegal activity, the agents had been informed that illegal immigrants were detected by the tethered aerostat radar system hovering overhead that provides counter-narcotics and border crossing surveillance and can distinguish targets down to a meter across at ground level.

It is not uncommon that coyotes, smugglers involved in the profession of human trafficking, drive the desolate roads searching for “wets”, the derogatory term for illegal immigrants, in the vast desert expanse surrounding Marfa. When the five suspects were questioned on the nature of their business the answer was not so clearly comprehended by the Border Patrol. The suspects were a gallery curator, a photographer, an artist, and two architects who were discussing the selection of the future building site of Prada Marfa, a minimalist sculpture that replicates the luxury boutique where the Fall 2005 line of Prada shoes and bags were to be displayed."