An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall
-
0:01 - 0:06Isn't it fascinating how the simple act
of drawing a line on the map -
0:06 - 0:08can transform the way we see
and experience the world? -
0:10 - 0:13And how those spaces
in between lines, borders, -
0:13 - 0:15become places.
-
0:15 - 0:19They become places
where language and food and music -
0:19 - 0:22and people of different cultures
rub up against each other -
0:22 - 0:28in beautiful and sometimes violent
and occasionally really ridiculous ways. -
0:28 - 0:31And those lines drawn on a map
-
0:31 - 0:34can actually create
scars in the landscape, -
0:34 - 0:36and they can create scars in our memories.
-
0:37 - 0:39My interest in borders came about
-
0:39 - 0:42when I was searching
for an architecture of the borderlands. -
0:43 - 0:48And I was working on several projects
along the US-Mexico border, -
0:48 - 0:51designing buildings made out of mud
taken right from the ground. -
0:52 - 0:55And I also work on projects that you
might say immigrated to this landscape. -
0:56 - 0:58"Prada Marfa," a land-art sculpture
-
0:58 - 1:01that crosses the border
between art and architecture, -
1:01 - 1:04and it demonstrated to me
that architecture could communicate ideas -
1:04 - 1:08that are much more
politically and culturally complex, -
1:08 - 1:12that architecture could be satirical
and serious at the same time -
1:12 - 1:15and it could speak to the disparities
between wealth and poverty -
1:15 - 1:17and what's local and what's foreign.
-
1:19 - 1:22And so in my search
for an architecture of the borderlands, -
1:22 - 1:24I began to wonder,
-
1:24 - 1:26is the wall architecture?
-
1:27 - 1:33I began to document my thoughts
and visits to the wall -
1:33 - 1:36by creating a series of souvenirs
-
1:36 - 1:41to remind us of the time
when we built a wall -
1:41 - 1:43and what a crazy idea that was.
-
1:44 - 1:46I created border games,
-
1:46 - 1:47(Laughter)
-
1:47 - 1:49postcards,
-
1:50 - 1:53snow globes with little architectural
models inside of them, -
1:54 - 1:59and maps that told the story
of resilience at the wall -
1:59 - 2:04and sought for ways that design
could bring to light the problems -
2:04 - 2:06that the border wall was creating.
-
2:07 - 2:09So, is the wall architecture?
-
2:09 - 2:12Well, it certainly is a design structure,
-
2:12 - 2:15and it's designed at a research
facility called FenceLab, -
2:15 - 2:18where they would load vehicles
with 10,000 pounds -
2:18 - 2:21and ram them into the wall
at 40 miles an hour -
2:21 - 2:23to test the wall's impermeability.
-
2:23 - 2:26But there was also counter-research
going on on the other side, -
2:26 - 2:28the design of portable drawbridges
-
2:28 - 2:30that you could bring right up to the wall
-
2:30 - 2:32and allow vehicles to drive right over.
-
2:32 - 2:34(Laughter)
-
2:34 - 2:37And like with all research projects,
there are successes -
2:37 - 2:39and there are failures.
-
2:39 - 2:40(Laughter)
-
2:40 - 2:44But it's these medieval
reactions to the wall -- -
2:44 - 2:46drawbridges, for example --
-
2:46 - 2:51that are because the wall itself is
an arcane, medieval form of architecture. -
2:52 - 2:57It's an overly simplistic response
to a complex set of issues. -
2:57 - 3:01And a number of medieval technologies
have sprung up along the wall: -
3:02 - 3:05catapults that launch
bales of marijuana over the wall -
3:05 - 3:06(Laughter)
-
3:06 - 3:09or cannons that shoot packets
of cocaine and heroin over the wall. -
3:10 - 3:12Now during medieval times,
-
3:12 - 3:15diseased, dead bodies
-
3:15 - 3:19were sometimes catapulted over walls
as an early form of biological warfare, -
3:20 - 3:21and it's speculated that today,
-
3:23 - 3:28humans are being propelled over the wall
as a form of immigration. -
3:29 - 3:30A ridiculous idea.
-
3:31 - 3:37But the only person ever known to be
documented to have launched over the wall -
3:37 - 3:39from Mexico to the United States
-
3:39 - 3:41was in fact a US citizen,
-
3:41 - 3:46who was given permission
to human-cannonball over the wall, -
3:46 - 3:47200 feet,
-
3:47 - 3:49so long as he carried his passport in hand
-
3:49 - 3:51(Laughter)
-
3:51 - 3:54and he landed safely in a net
on the other side. -
3:56 - 4:00And my thoughts are inspired
by a quote by the architect Hassan Fathy, -
4:00 - 4:01who said,
-
4:01 - 4:04"Architects do not design walls,
-
4:04 - 4:06but the spaces between them."
-
4:06 - 4:09So while I do not think that architects
should be designing walls, -
4:09 - 4:13I do think it's important and urgent
that they should be paying attention -
4:13 - 4:15to those spaces in between.
-
4:15 - 4:20They should be designing for the places
and the people, the landscapes -
4:20 - 4:21that the wall endangers.
-
4:23 - 4:25Now, people are already
rising to this occasion, -
4:25 - 4:30and while the purpose of the wall
is to keep people apart and away, -
4:30 - 4:34it's actually bringing people together
in some really remarkable ways, -
4:34 - 4:38holding social events like
binational yoga classes along the border, -
4:38 - 4:40to bring people together
across the divide. -
4:40 - 4:42I call this the monument pose.
-
4:42 - 4:43(Laughter)
-
4:44 - 4:48And have you ever heard of "wall y ball"?
-
4:48 - 4:49(Laughter)
-
4:49 - 4:55It's a borderland version of volleyball,
and it's been played since 1979 -
4:55 - 4:56(Laughter)
-
4:56 - 4:58along the US-Mexico border
-
4:58 - 5:00to celebrate binational heritage.
-
5:00 - 5:03And it raises some
interesting questions, right? -
5:03 - 5:05Is such a game even legal?
-
5:06 - 5:10Does hitting a ball back and forth
over the wall constitute illegal trade? -
5:10 - 5:12(Laughter)
-
5:12 - 5:17The beauty of volleyball
is that it transforms the wall -
5:17 - 5:19into nothing more than a line in the sand
-
5:19 - 5:23negotiated by the minds and bodies
and spirits of players on both sides. -
5:24 - 5:29And I think it's exactly
these kinds of two-sided negotiations -
5:29 - 5:32that are needed to bring down
walls that divide. -
5:33 - 5:36Now, throwing the ball
over the wall is one thing, -
5:36 - 5:38but throwing rocks over the wall
-
5:38 - 5:41has caused damage
to Border Patrol vehicles -
5:41 - 5:45and have injured Border Patrol agents,
-
5:45 - 5:47and the response from the US side
has been drastic. -
5:47 - 5:51Border Patrol agents
have fired through the wall, -
5:51 - 5:53killing people throwing rocks
on the Mexican side. -
5:55 - 5:57And another response
by Border Patrol agents -
5:57 - 6:01is to erect baseball backstops
to protect themselves and their vehicles. -
6:02 - 6:05And these backstops
became a permanent feature -
6:05 - 6:07in the construction of new walls.
-
6:07 - 6:10And I began to wonder if, like volleyball,
-
6:10 - 6:15maybe baseball should be
a permanent feature at the border, -
6:15 - 6:17and walls could start opening up,
-
6:17 - 6:20allowing communities
to come across and play, -
6:20 - 6:22and if they hit a home run,
-
6:22 - 6:25maybe a Border Patrol agent would
pick up the ball and throw it -
6:25 - 6:26back over to the other side.
-
6:28 - 6:32A Border Patrol agent buys
a raspado, a frozen treat, -
6:32 - 6:35from a vendor just a couple feet away,
-
6:35 - 6:37food and money is exchanged
through the wall, -
6:37 - 6:43an entirely normal event
made illegal by that line drawn on a map -
6:44 - 6:46and a couple millimeters of steel.
-
6:47 - 6:50And this scene reminded me of a saying:
-
6:50 - 6:53"If you have more than you need,
you should build longer tables -
6:53 - 6:55and not higher walls."
-
6:55 - 6:58So I created this souvenir to remember
the moment that we could share -
6:58 - 7:00food and conversation across the divide.
-
7:02 - 7:05A swing allows one to enter
and swing over to the other side -
7:05 - 7:08until gravity deports them back
to their own country. -
7:09 - 7:11The border and the border wall
-
7:11 - 7:16is thought of as a sort of
political theater today, -
7:17 - 7:20so perhaps we should invite
audiences to that theater, -
7:20 - 7:23to a binational theater
where people can come together -
7:24 - 7:26with performers, musicians.
-
7:27 - 7:30Maybe the wall is nothing more
than an enormous instrument, -
7:30 - 7:34the world's largest xylophone,
and we could play down this wall -
7:34 - 7:36with weapons of mass percussion.
-
7:36 - 7:37(Laughter)
-
7:38 - 7:41When I envisioned this binational library,
-
7:41 - 7:44I wanted to imagine a space
where one could share -
7:44 - 7:49books and information
and knowledge across a divide, -
7:49 - 7:52where the wall was nothing more
than a bookshelf. -
7:52 - 7:56And perhaps the best way to illustrate
the mutual relationship that we have -
7:56 - 7:58with Mexico and the United States
-
7:58 - 8:01is by imagining a teeter-totter,
-
8:01 - 8:05where the actions on one side
had a direct consequence -
8:05 - 8:07on what happens on the other side,
-
8:07 - 8:09because you see, the border itself
-
8:09 - 8:13is both a symbolic and literal fulcrum
for US-Mexico relations, -
8:13 - 8:17and building walls between neighbors
severs those relationships. -
8:18 - 8:22You probably remember this quote,
"Good fences make good neighbors." -
8:22 - 8:26It's often thought of as the moral
of Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall." -
8:27 - 8:31But the poem is really about questioning
the need for building walls at all. -
8:32 - 8:35It's really a poem about mending
human relationships. -
8:36 - 8:38My favorite line is the first one:
-
8:38 - 8:40"Something there is
that doesn't love a wall." -
8:41 - 8:44Because if there's one thing
that's clear to me -- -
8:44 - 8:46there are not two sides defined by a wall.
-
8:46 - 8:48This is one landscape, divided.
-
8:49 - 8:51On one side, it might look like this.
-
8:51 - 8:55A man is mowing his lawn
while the wall is looming in his backyard. -
8:55 - 8:58And on the other side,
it might look like this. -
8:58 - 9:01The wall is the fourth wall
of someone's house. -
9:01 - 9:05But the reality is that the wall
is cutting through people's lives. -
9:06 - 9:09It is cutting through
our private property, -
9:09 - 9:10our public lands,
-
9:10 - 9:12our Native American lands, our cities,
-
9:13 - 9:14a university,
-
9:15 - 9:16our neighborhoods.
-
9:17 - 9:19And I couldn't help but wonder
-
9:19 - 9:22what it would be like if the wall
cut through a house. -
9:23 - 9:25Remember those disparities
between wealth and poverty? -
9:25 - 9:28On the right is the average size
of a house in El Paso, Texas, -
9:28 - 9:31and on the left is the average size
of a house in Juarez. -
9:32 - 9:35And here, the wall cuts directly
through the kitchen table. -
9:36 - 9:39And here, the wall cuts through
the bed in the bedroom. -
9:40 - 9:43Because I wanted to communicate
how the wall is not only dividing places, -
9:43 - 9:46it's dividing people,
it's dividing families. -
9:46 - 9:48And the unfortunate politics of the wall
-
9:48 - 9:52is today, it is dividing children
from their parents. -
9:53 - 9:55You might be familiar
with this well-known traffic sign. -
9:55 - 9:59It was designed
by graphic designer John Hood, -
9:59 - 10:01a Native American war veteran
-
10:01 - 10:04working for the California
Department of Transportation. -
10:04 - 10:08And he was tasked with creating
a sign to warn motorists -
10:08 - 10:11of immigrants who were stranded
alongside the highway -
10:11 - 10:13and who might attempt
to run across the road. -
10:14 - 10:18Hood related the plight
of the immigrant today -
10:18 - 10:20to that of the Navajo
during the Long Walk. -
10:22 - 10:24And this is really a brilliant piece
of design activism. -
10:26 - 10:27And he was very careful
-
10:27 - 10:31in thinking about using
a little girl with pigtails, for example, -
10:31 - 10:35because he thought that's who motorists
might empathize with the most, -
10:35 - 10:39and he used the silhouette
of the civil rights leader Cesar Chavez -
10:39 - 10:41to create the head of the father.
-
10:42 - 10:46I wanted to build upon
the brilliance of this sign -
10:46 - 10:49to call attention to the problem
of child separation at the border, -
10:49 - 10:51and I made one very simple move.
-
10:51 - 10:53I turned the families to face each other.
-
10:54 - 10:55And in the last few weeks,
-
10:55 - 10:58I've had the opportunity
to bring that sign back to the highway -
10:58 - 11:00to tell a story,
-
11:00 - 11:03the story of the relationships
that we should be mending -
11:04 - 11:06and a reminder that we should be designing
-
11:06 - 11:09a reunited states
and not a divided states. -
11:10 - 11:11Thank you.
-
11:11 - 11:15(Applause)
- Title:
- An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall
- Speaker:
- Ronald Rael
- Description:
-
What is a border? It's a line on a map, a place where cultures mix and merge in beautiful, sometimes violent and occasionally ridiculous ways. And a border wall? An overly simplistic response to that complexity, says architect Ronald Rael. In a moving, visual talk, Rael reimagines the physical barrier that divides the United States and Mexico -- sharing satirical, serious works of art inspired by the borderlands and showing us the border we don't see in the news. "There are not two sides defined by a wall. This is one landscape, divided," Rael says.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:28
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall | ||
Krystian Aparta accepted English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for An architect's subversive reimagining of the US-Mexico border wall |