RED, WHITE AND BLUE-GREEN
Temporary site specific installation, El Paso, Texas, 2019
Commissioned by the Museums and Cultural Affairs Department of El Paso for the 2019 Chalk the Block Arts Festival
‘Red, white and blue-green’ transformed a plaza into a colorful forest. Barricade tape, typically used to create barriers, was used instead to generate an immersive field people were encouraged to occupy. Held aloft by balloons and anchored with bricks, the tape created an all-enveloping, maze-like environment, setting the stage for playful interactions.
Combinations of red, white, blue and green were used in reference to the flags of USA and Mexico which, like their people, share more in common than what sets them apart. We chose materials as oblique references to surveillance balloons and the border wall just half a mile from the installation. After the three day festival the balloons were given away, dispersing the installation across the cities of El Paso and Juárez.
Our work is invested in using simple, off-the-shelf materials to create what we call “social infrastructures.” We see these installations as analogue prompts that are meant to encourage playful encounters in the public realm allowing people from different economic, political and racial backgrounds to come together and share experiences. In a time of grave disunity, these simple sparks of interaction have the potential to, however briefly, provide mixing opportunities for people who might otherwise occupy different worlds; a chance to leave the echo-chamber of social media and interact in real-time with a neighbor.
