BORDER WALL PROTOTYPES

The Border Wall Prototypes were commissioned by the Trump administration and stand just east of the Tijuana and the Otay Mesa border crossing in Southern California. Four subcontractors built 8 proposed prototypes , using the guidelines provided by the Customs and Border Control. They stipulate that they need to be strong enough to repel attempts to tunnel beneath them to a depth of 6 feet. Each must also be able to withstand a half hour attack by “sledgehammer, car jack, pick ax, chisel, battery- operated hand tools, oxy-acetylene torch or other similar hand held tools “ Shot through gaps in the existing steel barrier, these images isolate the prototypes and and present them as both banal and startling, full and empty of meaning. Their presence lies at an intersection of architecture and politics, ideology and art.