Giant Art Piece Going Up On US-Mexico Border

By Jude Joffe-Block
Published: Friday, October 9, 2015 - 10:32am
Updated: Friday, October 9, 2015 - 2:34pm
(Photo courtesy of Postcommodity)
The sculpture is called "Repellent Fence" and it is is a project by the artist collective Postcommodity.

On the border in Douglas, Arizona, today an artist collective is launching a giant piece of artwork. The sculpture is called "Repellent Fence" and it is is a project by the artist collective Postcommodity.

"Repellent fence is a 2-mile-long land art sculpture that intersects the U.S.-Mexico border," said Cristóbal Martínez, one of the three members of Postcommodity, which describes itself as an indigenous artist collective. "One mile of the sculpture exists in the United States, and 1 mile exists in Mexico."

The sculpture consists of  28 10-foot-wide balloons that float 50 feet up in the air. The balloons are red and yellow and look like eyeballs. They are modeled on a product called "Scare Eye" that repels birds. 

Martínez said it was intentional to have the sculpture run North-South and cross the border.

"We are trying to call attention the relationships and the interconnectedness of peoples of the Western Hemisphere, while at the same time the very act of creating the work of art is also an act of building the binational capacities for collaboration," Martínez said. 

The artists have been working with communities in Douglas and Auga Prieta, Sonora over the past three years to plan for the sculpture's installation. Community members on both sides of the border will be working together to get the sculputre in the air on Friday morning. The installation is planned to be up for four days.

The launch of Repellent Fence is one of several border art-themed events this weekend in Douglas. There will also be a binational art walk, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts will present a series of artist workshops and artist-led community conversations as part of its AZ ArtWorker initiative.