While Donald Trump looks to start building the notorious and outrageous Mexico wall, Atelier ARI, a Rotterdam-based artist has given a rather tongue in cheek response to the POTUS by creating an art installation called Open Border. The “wall”which rises to 9 feet tall and has a length of 120 feet, has been installed at the annual Winnipeg Warming Huts event.
Of course, its bright orange color is a mere coincidence (not), and the wall is made of vertical plastic strips that allow the people to pass through to the other side. This one is a strong symbolic statement to the regressive and racist policies employed by the Trump administration.
The Winnipeg Warming Huts event is a popular art competition that hosts creative artists from all around the globe as they flaunt their art in an outdoor architecture gallery.
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The event always attracts very eye-catching and bold avant-garde designs, but this year’s protest art installation in the shape of the orange wall has won the Atelier ARI’s content, which speaks volumes about how strongly the world feels about Trump’s xenophobic foreign policies.
The artists, de Grauw and den Berg, told Co.Design.
“Creating a wall or border on a route is one the most radical and unnatural architectural statements one can make, which was something we liked a lot.”
“The moment we came up with the wall we realized this would be a political act as well, relating to the speeches of Trump, but also refugee problems in Europe. [It’s] something you can pass through and a place to gather and warm up.”
Visually, the bright orange structure on a white backdrop was incredibly eye-catching. But what won the prize was how the strategically crafted art piece made people contemplate the issue as they passed through the orange strips for fun. The material’s semi-opaqueness made people indistinguishable from the other side of the wall, designed as a metaphorical statement on how the color of the skin doesn’t define us.
Atelier ARI elaborated,
“Everybody in the wall becomes dark-red silhouettes. Everybody becomes the same.”
What are your thoughts on this symbolic orange border wall? Comment below!