Teeter-Totter Wall
Studio Rael San Fratello
2019, USA
Video registration of the installation on location at the US-Mexico Border, near El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Chihuahua
The work is positioned between politics and play. The ‘Teeter-Totter Wall’ project was a collaboration with the Mexican Colectivo Chopeke. The concept involved installing bright pink seesaws through the gaps in the border wall between Mexico and the US, allowing children and adults on both sides to play together. The teeter-totters were designed to be a symbolic representation of unity and interconnectedness, breaking down the physical barrier and emphasizing a sense of shared humanity. The project aimed to highlight the human impact of border policies and promote positive, playful interaction between people on either side of the border.
‘While the intervention did not have a direct impact on the policies it opposed, it portrayed a counter-narrative to the wall, and brought attention to other connected important issues such as family separation. It also promoted cross-border solidarity and reflected the interdependence of these communities.’
Rael San Fratello is an architectural studio which aims to disrupt the conventions of architecture by tackling topics that are not typically of interest to architects. It was founded back in 2002 by Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello.
Ronald Rael is a designer, activist, trained architect, author, and Eva Li Memorial Chair in Architecture at the University of California Berkeley. He is the Chair of the Department of Art Practice, where he holds a joint appointment and was previously served as Chair of the Department of Architecture, Director of the Masters of Architecture program, and the Director of the Masters of Advanced Architectural Design program in the College of Environmental Design.
His research interests connect indigenous and traditional material practices to contemporary technologies and issues and he is a design activist, author, and thought leader within the topics of additive manufacturing, borderwall studies, and earthen architecture.
Virginia San Fratello is an educator, designer and creative technologist. She is the Chair of the Department of Design at San Jose State University in Silicon Valley and an International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Educator of the Year recipient. She is a design activist, author, and thought leader within the fields of additive manufacturing, architecture, interior and product design. She has served in the role of Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Arkansas and The University of Queensland.