0:00:00.809,0:00:05.556
Isn't it fascinating how the simple act[br]of drawing a line on the map

0:00:05.580,0:00:08.452
can transform the way we see[br]and experience the world?

0:00:09.714,0:00:12.778
And how those spaces[br]in between lines, borders,

0:00:12.802,0:00:14.556
become places.

0:00:14.580,0:00:19.260
They become places[br]where language and food and music

0:00:19.284,0:00:22.408
and people of different cultures[br]rub up against each other

0:00:22.432,0:00:27.712
in beautiful and sometimes violent[br]and occasionally really ridiculous ways.

0:00:28.454,0:00:31.165
And those lines drawn on a map

0:00:31.189,0:00:33.636
can actually create[br]scars in the landscape,

0:00:33.660,0:00:35.981
and they can create scars in our memories.

0:00:36.645,0:00:38.551
My interest in borders came about

0:00:38.575,0:00:42.081
when I was searching[br]for an architecture of the borderlands.

0:00:43.040,0:00:47.577
And I was working on several projects[br]along the US-Mexico border,

0:00:47.601,0:00:51.125
designing buildings made out of mud[br]taken right from the ground.

0:00:51.911,0:00:55.484
And I also work on projects that you[br]might say immigrated to this landscape.

0:00:55.508,0:00:57.833
"Prada Marfa," a land-art sculpture

0:00:57.857,0:01:00.857
that crosses the border[br]between art and architecture,

0:01:00.881,0:01:04.324
and it demonstrated to me[br]that architecture could communicate ideas

0:01:04.348,0:01:07.699
that are much more[br]politically and culturally complex,

0:01:07.723,0:01:12.272
that architecture could be satirical[br]and serious at the same time

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and it could speak to the disparities[br]between wealth and poverty

0:01:15.321,0:01:17.145
and what's local and what's foreign.

0:01:18.644,0:01:22.065
And so in my search[br]for an architecture of the borderlands,

0:01:22.089,0:01:23.788
I began to wonder,

0:01:23.812,0:01:25.960
is the wall architecture?

0:01:27.420,0:01:32.654
I began to document my thoughts[br]and visits to the wall

0:01:32.678,0:01:36.227
by creating a series of souvenirs

0:01:36.251,0:01:40.910
to remind us of the time[br]when we built a wall

0:01:40.934,0:01:43.068
and what a crazy idea that was.

0:01:44.112,0:01:45.858
I created border games,

0:01:45.882,0:01:47.405
(Laughter)

0:01:47.429,0:01:48.707
postcards,

0:01:49.921,0:01:52.945
snow globes with little architectural[br]models inside of them,

0:01:53.913,0:01:58.937
and maps that told the story[br]of resilience at the wall

0:01:58.961,0:02:03.636
and sought for ways that design[br]could bring to light the problems

0:02:03.660,0:02:05.516
that the border wall was creating.

0:02:06.777,0:02:09.325
So, is the wall architecture?

0:02:09.349,0:02:11.626
Well, it certainly is a design structure,

0:02:11.650,0:02:15.332
and it's designed at a research[br]facility called FenceLab,

0:02:15.356,0:02:18.364
where they would load vehicles[br]with 10,000 pounds

0:02:18.388,0:02:20.547
and ram them into the wall[br]at 40 miles an hour

0:02:20.571,0:02:22.642
to test the wall's impermeability.

0:02:22.666,0:02:25.924
But there was also counter-research[br]going on on the other side,

0:02:25.948,0:02:28.218
the design of portable drawbridges

0:02:28.242,0:02:30.243
that you could bring right up to the wall

0:02:30.267,0:02:32.270
and allow vehicles to drive right over.

0:02:32.294,0:02:34.265
(Laughter)

0:02:34.289,0:02:37.457
And like with all research projects,[br]there are successes

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and there are failures.

0:02:38.924,0:02:40.281
(Laughter)

0:02:40.305,0:02:43.647
But it's these medieval[br]reactions to the wall --

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drawbridges, for example --

0:02:45.972,0:02:50.906
that are because the wall itself is[br]an arcane, medieval form of architecture.

0:02:51.613,0:02:57.112
It's an overly simplistic response[br]to a complex set of issues.

0:02:57.136,0:03:00.945
And a number of medieval technologies[br]have sprung up along the wall:

0:03:01.748,0:03:04.748
catapults that launch[br]bales of marijuana over the wall

0:03:04.772,0:03:05.773
(Laughter)

0:03:05.797,0:03:09.438
or cannons that shoot packets[br]of cocaine and heroin over the wall.

0:03:10.286,0:03:12.223
Now during medieval times,

0:03:12.247,0:03:14.635
diseased, dead bodies

0:03:14.659,0:03:18.706
were sometimes catapulted over walls[br]as an early form of biological warfare,

0:03:19.618,0:03:21.338
and it's speculated that today,

0:03:22.544,0:03:28.123
humans are being propelled over the wall[br]as a form of immigration.

0:03:29.053,0:03:30.384
A ridiculous idea.

0:03:31.204,0:03:37.130
But the only person ever known to be[br]documented to have launched over the wall

0:03:37.154,0:03:39.038
from Mexico to the United States

0:03:39.062,0:03:41.172
was in fact a US citizen,

0:03:41.196,0:03:45.702
who was given permission[br]to human-cannonball over the wall,

0:03:45.726,0:03:46.877
200 feet,

0:03:46.901,0:03:48.973
so long as he carried his passport in hand

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(Laughter)

0:03:51.004,0:03:54.083
and he landed safely in a net[br]on the other side.

0:03:55.665,0:04:00.116
And my thoughts are inspired[br]by a quote by the architect Hassan Fathy,

0:04:00.140,0:04:01.382
who said,

0:04:01.406,0:04:03.851
"Architects do not design walls,

0:04:03.875,0:04:05.999
but the spaces between them."

0:04:06.356,0:04:09.459
So while I do not think that architects[br]should be designing walls,

0:04:09.483,0:04:13.205
I do think it's important and urgent[br]that they should be paying attention

0:04:13.229,0:04:14.976
to those spaces in between.

0:04:15.000,0:04:19.785
They should be designing for the places[br]and the people, the landscapes

0:04:19.809,0:04:21.261
that the wall endangers.

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Now, people are already[br]rising to this occasion,

0:04:25.443,0:04:30.323
and while the purpose of the wall[br]is to keep people apart and away,

0:04:30.347,0:04:34.180
it's actually bringing people together[br]in some really remarkable ways,

0:04:34.204,0:04:37.625
holding social events like[br]binational yoga classes along the border,

0:04:37.649,0:04:40.362
to bring people together[br]across the divide.

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I call this the monument pose.

0:04:42.191,0:04:43.426
(Laughter)

0:04:44.388,0:04:47.642
And have you ever heard of "wall y ball"?

0:04:47.666,0:04:49.070
(Laughter)

0:04:49.094,0:04:54.958
It's a borderland version of volleyball,[br]and it's been played since 1979

0:04:54.982,0:04:56.396
(Laughter)

0:04:56.420,0:04:57.952
along the US-Mexico border

0:04:57.976,0:05:00.418
to celebrate binational heritage.

0:05:00.442,0:05:02.860
And it raises some[br]interesting questions, right?

0:05:02.884,0:05:04.995
Is such a game even legal?

0:05:06.017,0:05:09.700
Does hitting a ball back and forth[br]over the wall constitute illegal trade?

0:05:09.724,0:05:11.951
(Laughter)

0:05:11.975,0:05:16.898
The beauty of volleyball[br]is that it transforms the wall

0:05:16.922,0:05:19.286
into nothing more than a line in the sand

0:05:19.310,0:05:23.453
negotiated by the minds and bodies[br]and spirits of players on both sides.

0:05:24.406,0:05:28.641
And I think it's exactly[br]these kinds of two-sided negotiations

0:05:28.665,0:05:31.842
that are needed to bring down[br]walls that divide.

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Now, throwing the ball[br]over the wall is one thing,

0:05:35.906,0:05:38.303
but throwing rocks over the wall

0:05:38.327,0:05:41.379
has caused damage[br]to Border Patrol vehicles

0:05:41.403,0:05:44.566
and have injured Border Patrol agents,

0:05:44.590,0:05:47.153
and the response from the US side[br]has been drastic.

0:05:47.177,0:05:50.710
Border Patrol agents[br]have fired through the wall,

0:05:50.734,0:05:53.280
killing people throwing rocks[br]on the Mexican side.

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And another response[br]by Border Patrol agents

0:05:57.304,0:06:00.768
is to erect baseball backstops[br]to protect themselves and their vehicles.

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And these backstops[br]became a permanent feature

0:06:04.972,0:06:06.815
in the construction of new walls.

0:06:07.339,0:06:10.329
And I began to wonder if, like volleyball,

0:06:10.353,0:06:14.558
maybe baseball should be[br]a permanent feature at the border,

0:06:14.582,0:06:16.912
and walls could start opening up,

0:06:16.936,0:06:19.964
allowing communities[br]to come across and play,

0:06:19.988,0:06:21.631
and if they hit a home run,

0:06:21.655,0:06:24.635
maybe a Border Patrol agent would[br]pick up the ball and throw it

0:06:24.659,0:06:25.994
back over to the other side.

0:06:27.941,0:06:31.966
A Border Patrol agent buys[br]a raspado, a frozen treat,

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from a vendor just a couple feet away,

0:06:34.665,0:06:37.235
food and money is exchanged[br]through the wall,

0:06:37.259,0:06:43.212
an entirely normal event[br]made illegal by that line drawn on a map

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and a couple millimeters of steel.

0:06:47.350,0:06:50.054
And this scene reminded me of a saying:

0:06:50.078,0:06:53.046
"If you have more than you need,[br]you should build longer tables

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and not higher walls."

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So I created this souvenir to remember[br]the moment that we could share

0:06:58.475,0:07:00.498
food and conversation across the divide.

0:07:01.767,0:07:05.074
A swing allows one to enter[br]and swing over to the other side

0:07:05.098,0:07:07.854
until gravity deports them back[br]to their own country.

0:07:08.817,0:07:11.342
The border and the border wall

0:07:11.366,0:07:15.595
is thought of as a sort of[br]political theater today,

0:07:16.680,0:07:19.983
so perhaps we should invite[br]audiences to that theater,

0:07:20.007,0:07:22.674
to a binational theater[br]where people can come together

0:07:23.688,0:07:25.967
with performers, musicians.

0:07:26.710,0:07:29.947
Maybe the wall is nothing more[br]than an enormous instrument,

0:07:29.971,0:07:33.677
the world's largest xylophone,[br]and we could play down this wall

0:07:33.701,0:07:35.500
with weapons of mass percussion.

0:07:35.524,0:07:37.439
(Laughter)

0:07:38.492,0:07:40.915
When I envisioned this binational library,

0:07:40.939,0:07:44.130
I wanted to imagine a space[br]where one could share

0:07:44.154,0:07:49.049
books and information[br]and knowledge across a divide,

0:07:49.073,0:07:51.717
where the wall was nothing more[br]than a bookshelf.

0:07:52.046,0:07:55.979
And perhaps the best way to illustrate[br]the mutual relationship that we have

0:07:56.003,0:07:58.299
with Mexico and the United States

0:07:58.323,0:08:01.021
is by imagining a teeter-totter,

0:08:01.045,0:08:04.606
where the actions on one side[br]had a direct consequence

0:08:04.630,0:08:06.853
on what happens on the other side,

0:08:06.877,0:08:08.890
because you see, the border itself

0:08:08.914,0:08:13.157
is both a symbolic and literal fulcrum[br]for US-Mexico relations,

0:08:13.181,0:08:16.831
and building walls between neighbors[br]severs those relationships.

0:08:18.047,0:08:22.222
You probably remember this quote,[br]"Good fences make good neighbors."

0:08:22.246,0:08:25.872
It's often thought of as the moral[br]of Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall."

0:08:27.316,0:08:31.451
But the poem is really about questioning[br]the need for building walls at all.

0:08:32.171,0:08:34.797
It's really a poem about mending[br]human relationships.

0:08:35.787,0:08:37.790
My favorite line is the first one:

0:08:37.814,0:08:40.083
"Something there is[br]that doesn't love a wall."

0:08:41.313,0:08:43.741
Because if there's one thing[br]that's clear to me --

0:08:43.765,0:08:46.412
there are not two sides defined by a wall.

0:08:46.436,0:08:48.367
This is one landscape, divided.

0:08:49.161,0:08:51.060
On one side, it might look like this.

0:08:51.084,0:08:55.016
A man is mowing his lawn[br]while the wall is looming in his backyard.

0:08:55.040,0:08:57.640
And on the other side,[br]it might look like this.

0:08:57.664,0:09:00.877
The wall is the fourth wall[br]of someone's house.

0:09:01.465,0:09:05.029
But the reality is that the wall[br]is cutting through people's lives.

0:09:06.278,0:09:09.227
It is cutting through[br]our private property,

0:09:09.251,0:09:10.402
our public lands,

0:09:10.426,0:09:12.441
our Native American lands, our cities,

0:09:13.274,0:09:14.424
a university,

0:09:15.242,0:09:16.392
our neighborhoods.

0:09:17.077,0:09:18.905
And I couldn't help but wonder

0:09:18.929,0:09:21.635
what it would be like if the wall[br]cut through a house.

0:09:22.789,0:09:25.366
Remember those disparities[br]between wealth and poverty?

0:09:25.390,0:09:28.327
On the right is the average size[br]of a house in El Paso, Texas,

0:09:28.351,0:09:31.184
and on the left is the average size[br]of a house in Juarez.

0:09:31.794,0:09:34.692
And here, the wall cuts directly[br]through the kitchen table.

0:09:35.747,0:09:38.516
And here, the wall cuts through[br]the bed in the bedroom.

0:09:39.699,0:09:43.443
Because I wanted to communicate[br]how the wall is not only dividing places,

0:09:43.467,0:09:46.171
it's dividing people,[br]it's dividing families.

0:09:46.195,0:09:48.402
And the unfortunate politics of the wall

0:09:48.426,0:09:52.002
is today, it is dividing children[br]from their parents.

0:09:52.647,0:09:55.432
You might be familiar[br]with this well-known traffic sign.

0:09:55.456,0:09:59.120
It was designed[br]by graphic designer John Hood,

0:09:59.144,0:10:00.898
a Native American war veteran

0:10:00.922,0:10:03.542
working for the California[br]Department of Transportation.

0:10:04.366,0:10:07.906
And he was tasked with creating[br]a sign to warn motorists

0:10:07.930,0:10:10.581
of immigrants who were stranded[br]alongside the highway

0:10:10.605,0:10:12.890
and who might attempt[br]to run across the road.

0:10:14.041,0:10:17.780
Hood related the plight[br]of the immigrant today

0:10:17.804,0:10:20.280
to that of the Navajo[br]during the Long Walk.

0:10:21.778,0:10:24.415
And this is really a brilliant piece[br]of design activism.

0:10:25.796,0:10:26.946
And he was very careful

0:10:26.970,0:10:30.607
in thinking about using[br]a little girl with pigtails, for example,

0:10:30.631,0:10:34.909
because he thought that's who motorists[br]might empathize with the most,

0:10:34.933,0:10:39.419
and he used the silhouette[br]of the civil rights leader Cesar Chavez

0:10:39.443,0:10:41.321
to create the head of the father.

0:10:41.839,0:10:45.516
I wanted to build upon[br]the brilliance of this sign

0:10:45.540,0:10:48.929
to call attention to the problem[br]of child separation at the border,

0:10:48.953,0:10:50.810
and I made one very simple move.

0:10:50.834,0:10:53.119
I turned the families to face each other.

0:10:53.583,0:10:54.844
And in the last few weeks,

0:10:54.868,0:10:57.956
I've had the opportunity[br]to bring that sign back to the highway

0:10:57.980,0:10:59.749
to tell a story,

0:10:59.773,0:11:03.496
the story of the relationships[br]that we should be mending

0:11:03.520,0:11:05.921
and a reminder that we should be designing

0:11:05.945,0:11:08.984
a reunited states[br]and not a divided states.

0:11:09.515,0:11:10.666
Thank you.

0:11:10.690,0:11:14.960
(Applause)