The Power of Public Art

Especially this quote from her:

“Maybe this person doesn’t get to go to a museum or to galleries very often, and they have the ability to gather around this piece and create community and experience humanity in a different a way.” (2017)

…and also something she had said about the future and its possibilities:

“I’m very excited about this new period of creative opportunity…things were getting exhausting…too much too fast, not enough time to contemplate injustice…” (2020)

In our industry things are fast, online and forward-thinking, especially with an election right around the corner. For me, visiting Marfa and Big Bend last week was a shock to the system in the opposite direction that we all usually welcome during a vacation: slowing down and taking in the greenery of Hill Country during the 9+ hour drive. Hiking for hours in full sun throughout Big Bend National Park. Ditching cell phones for walkie talkies when our cell service was out.

One aspect of the trip I didn’t expect to create so much pause and conversation around was Prada Marfa. [So a little backstory…] 15 years after it had been installed, Prada Marfa still stands alone on U.S. Highway 90 in West Texas. It was originally meant as a sort of experiment, to gradually melt and decay into itself, and to serve as a criticism of consumerist culture. The artists (Scandinavian duo Elmgreen & Dragset) and organizers, Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa later instead planned for the installation to be permanent after a series of vandalism acts. It has since been reclassified as a museum, and there are over 64,000 tagged posts to #pradamarfa on Instagram.

What I thought would be a quick visit turned into an hour of fun, experimental outdoor activities. Yes, our group of four took pictures, but we also had an impromptu picnic in the desert. We explored the train tracks. We examined the hundreds on locks and messages chained to a fence around the structure. We let our friends’ dog wander. We let the dry dirt sift through our fingertips. We talked about Texas, about California and other states we had visited and how we’d never seen anything like what we were looking at right then and there. We talked about how we hadn’t been inside a museum or galleries in months. We talked about different states’ approach to COVID. The election. Our worries. The path ahead. Everything. The heat of the sun and the conversation made things uncomfortable at times, but we all also felt really relaxed and connected. The whole experience was like a long dinner party with good company where you just want to sit and stay awhile, slowly sip on that last glass of wine and talk and debate into the odd hours of the night. 

Galleries and museums are still closed or slowly reopening, yet Prada Marfa still provides a sense of community and safe distance as pilgrims make the journey to see the structure. It got me thinking about what other public art was being activated in new ways by COVID closings or what could be created right now to the same effect. Maybe since we’re all out and about more on our walks, long bike rides or road trips there’s an opportunity to reimagine those tried and true spaces in new ways, and answer the question: What opportunities do we have to put out more work that is accessible, free of charge and create more of these contemplative moments even as things reopen? Yvonne Force Villareal’s statements on public art providing accessibility led me to think and get excited about how our work can guide humanity and create opportunities for pause in new ways as we enter this new creative period.