Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
Designed by the Chair of the SJSU Department of Design, Professor Virginia San Fratello, in collaboration with UC Berkeley Architecture Professor Ronald Rael, and the Colectivo Chopeke in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, the Teeter Totter Wall project briefly transformed the horrors of separation and cartel violence, surrounding the US-Mexican border wall, into a fun and joyful playground for children and their families. This miracle project, consisting of three pink see-saws wedged between the steel gaps of the wall, was only up and running for 40 minutes, on July 28, 2019. The project was technically impermanent, essentially because it is unlawful to permanently affix any sort of object, or structure, onto government property. Nonetheless, the short duration was plenty of time for the Teeter Totter Wall project to garner more than one prestigious award, after footage of the event went viral, and extensive media coverage.
However short-lived, the transformation of a small section of one of the most controversial pieces of construction in the United States, into a physical, and metaphorical, fulcrum of opportunity, created an exemplary work of resilience and activism. As Ronald Rael put it, the driving force of the project was an attempt to “dismantle the wall, to dismantle its meaning and identity, to disempower it in some way” (Rael San Fratello, April 2020). San Fratello also pointed out that the seesaws were painted bright pink, together with a bright palette of colors for the seats, in memory of the women, also weavers, victims of savage femicide in Cuidad Juarez, just across the US city of El Paso, Texas, on the other side of the wall (Rael San Fratello, April 2020). For Rael, “the dragon was slain”, at least temporarily, as the seesaws were thrust into the wall’s gaps, during installation. Indeed, most recently, on January 19, 2021, on the final day of the Trump Administration, the Teeter Totter Wall project was awarded the London (UK) Beazley Design Museum Award of the Year, (best overall, out of six categories), the equivalent of an Oscar in Design (Staff, Beazley Museum).
The below
YouTube video captures a few enchanting moments of the fleeting project, when it was installed and in use. Both Professors Ronald Rael and Victoria San Fratello are seen seesawing into the sky, 10 seconds into the video.
References
Colectivo Chopeke https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Cause/Colectivo-Chopeke-158264838093669/
Emerging Objects http://emergingobjects.com/
Rael San Fratello https://www.rael-sanfratello.com/
Rael San Fratello (April 24, 2020) Transforming the border wall into a teeter-totter. Artist Stories, MOMA. https://youtu.be/1bbeBo3te5E?list=TLPQMjkwMTIwMjFuRL2AOoFmSA
Rael,
R. (2017) Borderwall as Architecture: A manifesto for the US-Mexico boundary. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press.
Rael, R. (UCB Faculty webpage) https://ced.berkeley.edu/ced/faculty-staff/ronald-rael
San Fratello, V. (SJSU Faculty webpage) https://www.sjsu.edu/design/interior-design/faculty/vsfratello.php
Staff (Jan. 19, 2021) Beazley Designs of the Year 2020 Winners revealed. Beazley Design Museum. https://www.beazley.com/news/2021/beazley_designs_of_the_year_2020_winners_revealed.html?
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