Cloning The Border Abroad

For Into the Open: Positioning Practice exhibition at the US Pavilion in the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale, Teddy Cruz says this about his contribution:

The piece is called 60 Linear Miles of Local Conflict. It's basically a 15-foot-high by 90-foot-long billboard, made of a translucent material, that serves as the facade of the US pavilion itself. A painting of the border wall separating Tijuana from San Diego stretches across the billboard's length, with a long horizon made of photographs taken of places in conflict. In the end, the wall finally sinks into the Pacific Ocean, after traveling miles through the Tijuana territory. First of all, it was a very interesting opportunity to install the whole facade of the US pavilion. It served as a dramatic image to frame the discussion taking place inside the pavilion, and reminded the public that, as architects, we begin with very local, real conditions. Conflicts between military bases and environmental zones, between formal and informal urbanisms, between political and natural conditions — that's where architectural practice should position itself.

Read more in this Artkrush Interview with Teddy from Sept. 17, 2008.