“Prada Marfa has lived its own life. We like to see it as a classic Hollywood Diva that has lived both a very rough life and a very glamourous life at the same time.” — Elmgreen & Dragset

To celebrate the 15th year of Prada Marfa, we are releasing the first interview with Elmgreen & Dragset on Prada since the sculpture was inaugurated in 2003 through Transmissions, Ballroom’s new interview series. The artists talk about how Prada Marfa has evolved and taken on a life of its own over its 15 years in West Texas.

Prada Marfa is a site-specific, permanent land art project by artists Elmgreen & Dragset, commissioned by Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa. Modeled after a Prada boutique, the sculpture houses luxury goods from the famed brand’s fall 2005 collection of bags and shoes. Located on a barren stretch of highway one mile west of Valentine TX, the artwork will never function as a place of commerce, since the door is always locked.

The sculpture was granted museum status in 2014 by the Texas Department of Transportation. It’s become an iconic roadside attraction for visitors that come from all over the world.

It’s Elmgreen & Dragset’s most noted work and it’s the perfect encapsulation of the duos subversiveness, humor, and critical eye towards commercialism, and the conventions of the art world.