DESIGN NAME: Mending Wall
PRIMARY FUNCTION: Grappling Hooks
INSPIRATION: Inspired from the federally funded border wall prototypes which were constructed in 2017 in San Diego, California, right across the border from Tijuana, Mexico. While the relationship between The U.S. and Mexico has rarely been easy, the two countries which share a border have many years of successful bilateral relations. Despite the threat of physical barriers, the two countries are forever entwined–no wall or President will change that.
UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Mending Wall is a series of eight grappling hooks, each is designed to overcome a corresponding prototype of President Trump’s proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico.
OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION: The grappling hooks explain the practicality of climbing a wall and the poetic overcoming of divisive global borders, while the extruded silhouette forms represent the top of 1 of the 8 proposed border wall prototypes.
PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION: The project started in August 2017 in Chicago and finished in March 2018, and was exhibited in Salone del Mobile 2018 as part of the Potluck Collection presented by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago at Rossana Orlandi.
FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY: Furniture Design
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PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY: The materials were informed directly from the wall prototypes. Some are steel, some are concrete, and some are a mixture of these materials. The silhouettes are fabricated from ¼ inch thick steel. The grappling hooks are made from rebar which is needed in the casting of superior concrete/cement structures and are powder coated colors inspired by native Mexican corn. The exposed welds and the fabrication methods refer back to the federally funded labor what went into building the prototypes.
SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES: Dimension vary: 12" x 14" x 10"Dimension vary: 12" x 14" x 10"
TAGS: transportation, border, politics, wall, system, grappling, hook, steel, rebar
RESEARCH ABSTRACT: The broader prompt I was given was to analyze the relationship between food and borders. I started by looking at global trade systems including NAFTA and studying the influence it has in the exports of crops (i.e., corn) between the United States and Mexico. This trade of goods has a direct impact on migration and at the time of my research 8 border wall prototypes were erected in San Diego-just across the border from Tijuana.
CHALLENGE: Abstracting the wall prototypes became a creative challenge. I was trying to represent 30 feet border walls with desktop-scale objects. To overcome this challenge I looked at the particular cross-sections of each wall. All eight walls have unique characteristics at the top, and this allowed me to scale them down without losing their intent.
ADDED DATE: 2018-06-02 19:43:18
TEAM MEMBERS (1) :
IMAGE CREDITS: Photography by Jonathan Allen
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