How a Prada store was created on a deserted highway

At this point, you’ve probably seen the strange sight of a standalone Prada boutique in the remote desert before – whether on Beyoncé’s Instagram or on The Simpsons. Berlin-based artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset PradaMarfa is so ubiquitous, yet so misunderstood, that tourists ask every day, “When does it open?” It’s not opening. That’s not the point. Since its construction in 2005, this architectural, pop-inspired land-art work on a deserted stretch of US-90, 36 miles northwest of Marfa, Texas, has become the ultimate case study in how social media has changed the collective interface with public sculpture.

Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset began working together in 1995 to explore the connections between art, architecture and design. In 2001, they exhibited “Opening Soon/Powerless Structures, Fig. 242” at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. The highlight of the exhibition was a sign reading “Opening Soon PRADA” on the gallery’s facade. People called Bonakdar to express their condolences.

This stunt has PradaMarfa“This architectural unity of a luxury boutique had suddenly become so present in our culture,” Elmgreen noted when the duo first returned to the site in 2019. PradaMarfa would criticize consumerism by highlighting its absurdity through isolation.

Elmgreen and Dragset, PradaMarfa (2005) Photo: Rob Hann. Courtesy of the Art Production Fund.

The duo tried in vain to find a suitable location in Nevada. Instead, they partnered with the New York-based Art Production Fund. Founder Yvonne Force Villareal, who has personal ties to Marfa, connected Elmgreen & Dragset with Ballroom Marfa. The two nonprofits secured funding – and land loaned – from the family of the late Walter Alton “Slim” Brown. Elmgreen & Dragset liked Marfa because they felt luxury brands were copying the minimalism of Donald Judd, who transformed Marfa into an art destination.

The duo worked with architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello to PradaMarfa made of biodegradable clay, plaster and glass. Miuccia Prada had them copy Prada’s logo and interior design and lent them shoes and handbags from the house’s Spring/Summer 2005 collection.

The night after PradaMarfa Revelation, thieves looted it. Elmgreen & Dragset originally assumed the building would fall into disrepair, but have since installed shatterproof windows and alarmed the inventory, although the handbags have no bottoms and the shoes are all right-foot only. Local star Boyd Elder looks after the sculpture. Ballroom Marfa maintains it.

Prada Marfa devastated. Photo: Rita Weigart, Marfa Public Radio.

Although the boutique is constantly covered in graffiti, no vandal has been able to hold a candle to Austin-based artist Joe Magnano, who plastered it with TOM’s signs in 2014. The Texas Department of Transportation came after PradaMarfa even when they considered it an illegal advertisement after Playboy put up a neon bunny nearby. An angry Elmgreen said Texas monthly “This is an embarrassment for this office,” noting that the work was not intended to promote Prada. Ballroom Marfa saved the situation by PradaMarfa a museum.

But today the work actually works like an ad. After the launch of Instagram in 2010 PradaMarfa became one of the most popular selfie spots on social media. “It’s almost like being a parent whose children grow up and go in a direction they never intended,” Elmgreen said in 2019.

As much as PradaMarfaThe meaning of has changed, but the look remains the same. “You come here and the landscape, the collection, the way the bags stand is exactly the same,” Dragset added of this trip. “Nothing is ever the same.”

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