Prada Marfa

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Prada Marfa
A small one story, one room adobe building with two large plate glass windows. Purses and shoes are sparsely and methodically placed inside.
Artist Elmgreen and Dragset
Year 2005 (2005)
Type Adobe, plaster, paint, glass panes, aluminum frames, MDF, carpet
Dimensions 15 ft × 25 ft (4.6 m × 7.6 m)
Location US 90, Valentine, Texas
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Prada Marfa is a permanently installed sculpture by artists Elmgreen and Dragset, situated 1.4 miles (2.3 km) northwest of Valentine, Texas, just off U.S. Highway 90 (US 90), and about 26 miles (42 km) northwest of the city of Marfa.[1] The installation was inaugurated on October 1, 2005. The artists called the work a "pop architectural land art project."[2]

The sculpture, realized with the assistance of American architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello,[3] cost $80,000 and was intended to never be repaired, so it might slowly degrade back into the natural landscape.[4] This plan was deviated from when, six days after the sculpture was completed, vandals graffitied the exterior, and broke into the building stealing handbags and shoes.[4]

Sculpture

Designed to resemble a Prada store, the building is made of "adobe bricks, plaster, paint, glass pane, aluminum frame, MDF, and carpet."[2] The installation's door is nonfunctional. On the front of the structure there are two large windows displaying actual Prada wares, shoes and handbags, picked out and provided by Miuccia Prada herself from the fall/winter 2005 collection; Prada allowed Elmgreen and Dragset to use the Prada trademark for this work.[1] The sculpture was financed by the Art Production Fund (APF) and Ballroom Marfa, a center of contemporary art and culture.

Prada had already collaborated with Elmgreen and Dragset in 2001 when the artists attached signage to the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York City with the (false) message "Opening soon—PRADA". Prada Marfa is located relatively close to Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation. The minimalism of Prada's usual displays that are mimicked in this work play off the minimalism that Judd is known for as an artist. The site-specific of Prada Marfa invites for a comparison with other art movements such as minimalism and land art, which are equally dependent on the site where they are placed. Prada Marfa relies almost entirely on its context for its critical effect.[5] The "sculptural Intervention" can be interpreted as criticism of consumerism, luxury branding and gentrification, but whether intentionally or not, it reinforces the capitalist values it criticizes.[5] Therefore, this work of art experienced a change of meaning and gained an ambivalent moment, that the artists did not expect. Along a ledge that runs around the base of the building, hundreds of people have left business cards, weighed down by small rocks.[6]

Vandalism

File:Prada Marfa Toms Vandalism.png
Prada Marfa, March 2014 vandalism.

A few days after Prada Marfa officially debuted, the installation was vandalized. The building was broken into, its contents (six handbags and 14 right footed shoes) were stolen, and the word "Dumb" as well as the phrase "Dum Dum" were spray painted on the sides of the structure.[4] The sculpture was quickly repaired, repainted, and restocked. The new Prada purses do not have bottoms and instead hide parts of a security system that alerts authorities if the bags are moved.[4] The vandalism shows the strong reaction and interaction between the sculpture and the viewers, being created among other things by the site-specific. The direct physical relationship between the sculpture and the viewers achieved extensive local and international press coverage.[5]

The exhibition was again vandalized in March of 2014. The structure was painted light blue, hung with fake logos for Toms Shoes from the awnings, and posted with a political manifesto on the door. Ballroom Marfa issued a statement decrying the vandalism and pledged to restore the site.[7] A Texas artist, 32-year-old Joe Magnano (using the pseudonym 9271977) was subsequently arrested and tried. Magnano pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor criminal mischief and agreed to pay Ballroom Marfa $10,700 in restitution as well as a $1,000 fine.[8]

Response from Texas Department of Transportation

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is currently discussing the fate of the installation now that it considers it to be a billboard that does not fit permitted specifications.[9] As of March 2014, no final decision had been made regarding the installation and its location. Michael Elmgreen commented on the allegations that Prada Marfa is an illegal advertisement for Prada. He stated: "There is no company behind the artwork. I was not commissioned by Prada [...] They never, ever asked me to do advertisement for them."[10] In September 2014, TxDOT officials announced that the structure would be reclassified as a museum, with the Prada Marfa as its only exhibit. This action exempts the structure from the same signage rules that forced the removal of a 40-foot-tall (12 m) neon bunny previously installed nearby by Playboy magazine.[11]

Gallery

  • PradaMarfa-Roderick-Peterson.jpg

    Prada Marfa in Winter

  • Prada Marfa at Night.jpg

    Prada Marfa at night

  • Marfa Prada in daytime.JPG

    Prada Marfa in daytime 2013

  • Prada Installation near Marfa, TX (Winter 2014).jpg

    Prada Marfa with a Porsche parked in front, December 2014

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

  • Dragset, Ingar/Elmgreen, Michael: A space called public, Köln 2013.
  • Elmgreen, Michael/Dragset, Ingar: Taking place. die Arbeiten von Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset; anlässlich der Ausstellungen Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Taking Place, Kunsthalle Zürich, 10 November 2001 - 20 January 2002, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Prison Breaking/Powerless Structures, Fig. 333, 25th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, 23 March - 2 June 2002, Ostfildern-Ruit 2002.
  • Elmgreen, Michael: Prada Marfa. Elmgreen&Dragset, Köln 2007.
  • Gisbourne, Mark: Double Act- Künstlerpaare, München, Berlin 2007.
  • Szorcin, Pamela C.: Elmgreen&Dragset, in: Künstler. Kritisches Lexikon der Gegen-wartskunst, Ausgabe 93, Heft 2, (2011).

External links

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