Pink Border Seesaws Win Design Museum's 2020 Beazley Design Award
The Design Museum in London selected the Teeter-Totter Wall as the 2020 Beazley Designs of the Year winner. This temporary installation featured three pink seesaws inserted through the steel slats of the US-Mexico border fence. Architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello collaborated with the art collective Colectivo Chopeke on the project, which took a decade to realize. For twenty minutes, children from El Paso, Texas, and the Anapra community in Juárez, Mexico, played together on the seesaws. The project aimed to foster unity and neighborly connection across a politically charged divide. Footage of the event spread widely online. Design Museum director Tim Marlow commended the work for promoting new forms of human connection and creating a lasting impact beyond the border region. He described it as an inventive and poignant symbol of overcoming division.
Key facts
- The Teeter-Totter Wall won the Beazley Designs of the Year award for 2020.
- The award was given by the Design Museum in London.
- The installation consisted of three pink seesaws placed through the US-Mexico border fence.
- It was created by architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello and the art collective Colectivo Chopeke.
- The project was ten years in the making.
- It allowed children from El Paso, Texas, USA, and Anapra, Juárez, Mexico, to play together.
- The seesaws were in place for only 20 minutes.
- Design Museum director Tim Marlow praised the project's ability to encourage human connection and resonate widely.
Entities
Artists
- Ronald Rael
- Virginia San Fratello
Institutions
- Design Museum
- Colectivo Chopeke
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- El Paso
- Texas
- United States
- Juárez
- Mexico
- US-Mexico border