Marfa Dialogues

Prada Marfa

Michael Elmgreen, Ingar Dragset

1 October 2005


Established: October 1, 2005
Artists: Elmgreen & Dragset
Commissioners/Producers: Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa
Architects: Ron Rael and Virginia San Fratello; Joerg Boettger
Construction: The Maxwell Company Site
Representative: Boyd Elder
Project Patrons: Suzanne Tick and Terry Mowers

Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa present PRADA MARFA, a site specific, permanent land art project by artists Elmgreen & Dragset. Modeled after a Prada boutique, the structure includes luxury goods from the fall 2005 collection. However, the sculpture will never function as a place of commerce, the door cannot be opened. The building is located one mile west of Valentine, TX.

  • James Evans
    Prada Marfa, 2005
    Digital photograph
    40 x 50 inches (unframed)
    Limited edition of 25

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    Read about the vandalism in March 2011, and artist Michael Elmgreen’s thoughts on the matter: “The store has been attacked before,” he said. “And when it will get restored again, the vandalism will for sure happen again, too. At some point, we might ask the local authorities to take responsibility for it and if they show no interest, it might be time for tearing it down and only keep it as a wonderful memory.”

    Read about the opening of Prada Marfa in the New York Times here and here, and the subsequent shoe vandalism.

    See the article in the German magazine Der Spiegel, which mentions Ballroom Marfa and Prada Marfa (calling it “the loneliest boutique on the planet”).

    Prada Marfa was recently featured in BBC Travel’s America’s Strangest Roadside Attractions.

    This project is made possible through the support of the local communities. The family of the late Walter Alton “Slim” Brown (Trucker, Rancher, Roper, Friend) has generously contributed to the project by lending their land. Many thanks to Fondazione Prada for their support and in-kind product contribution. Boyd Elder, artist, has overseen the project as our Project Site Representative, with additional support from his family Shaula Elder and Flaunn Elder Jamison. Special thanks to Suzanne Tick and Terry Mowers, whose ongoing support enables the maintenance of the sculpture, and The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston.

    Buy the James Evans photograph of Prada Marfa.