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Fences + Neighbors will install a border fence of corrugated metal on the playa. The wall will progress through several stages, as we offer the citizens of black rock a set of tools (spray paint, stencils, sledge hammers, axes) for interacting with the wall. In the participatory spirit of Burning Man, Fences + Neighbors will be authored by those who interact with it.

To Do!

Please help out if you're interested ~macri

Concept

Gaps

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast...
...The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again...
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. -Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"

I've always loved this poem for the impulse that it invokes. There is, indeed, something that doesn't love a wall--something that wants it down. Frost's poem never defines this "something;" leaving it to his neighbors to define for themselves. He suggests a myth: "elves...but it's not elves exactly." The gaps and aporia that always have a way of showing up unannounced are our way of knowing this "something" actually exists. We know because we must mend walls for them to endure. Yet, in spite of this powerful force that "spills the upper boulders in the sun," the aphorism linking good fences to good neighbors is lodged at the very center of our politics--at the center of our definitions of who we are.

My gut reaction to this year's American Dream art theme was this rebellious spirit of wall breaking. Before asserting my American Dream, "I'd ask to know / what I was walling in or walling out". Apparently the explosion of those boundaries and distinctions erected between nations and peoples is exactly in the spirit of this year's theme. According to the art description "Burning Man will stand atop an obelisk. This imposing monument, emblazoned with the images of flags, will represent the countries of the world." It follows that these flags, and the man who sits on top of them will all be consumed with fire at the end of our 7 days on the playa. Will you be able to distinguish Israel from Palestine in the ashes on Sunday?

In ancient Rome, there was a yearly festival to honor Terminus [1], god of the boundary stone, deity of the division of property. Max has always invited us to "burn our gods", on the playa. At least, that's how my invitations from him have always read. Fences + Neighbors proposes an inverted Terminalia, an upending of the boundary stone, a celebration of Frost's "something that doesn't love a wall."

Installation

The Border Wall

Breech of the Gaza Wall, 2008

The project will construct a 16 foot tall border wall out of corrugated scrap metal. Scrap metal will be attached to a wooden frame. The wall will stretch 35 feet long, depending on materials.

After construction, the wall will be turned over to our neighbors on the playa to interact with as they see fit. Fences + Neighbors will provide suggestions as to how to interact with the wall in the form of tools.

These tools/media will be introduced to the wall in successive stages over the course of the week.

Black & Red--Cans of spray paint, stencils and stencil making materials will be placed in bins around the wall. For people to use as they see fit.
Green & Blue--Cans of spray paint introduced. Stencils, and stencil making materials too.
Demolition--Sledge Hammers and Axes introduced.
Burn the wall--if there is anything left of it after the demolition, the wall will be burned.

Ways to participate

Volunteer for a role

Construction Crew!
Stencil makers / teachers in making stencils
Armed patrols of the fence with waterguns and uniforms!
- Conduct a border checkpoint, ask people for their passport
  - Could we have a station where people make their own BRC passports? "origin," "destination," "purpose" etc could all be interesting fields to fill out. & you could have room for people you meet throughout the week to "stamp" it in whatever way they chose. I could put this together with a pretty minimal materials budget ($40?) -Erin
  - Look at the Honorarium Art Installation CheckPoint DreamYourTopia http://www.dadara.nl/checkpoint/index.html. They will be making passports. We could refer people to the passport office, "arrest" people at the wall and lead them to the Border station as our "detainees". Erin, I love your idea; we should design and have a stamp for Dreamland Security passports. -Chitty

- help Chris make skimpy military uniforms
- strip search graffiti artist! HOT
- pat downs
Lead a discussion, give a speech, read a paper or poem about walls, borders, etc
- I would looove to write & read an academic/poetic piece for this. Maybe I could print it as a handout & man the wall as a "protestor" or "professor" or something, as a foil to the guards. -Erin
Burn down the wall!
Capture it all on a time-lapse camera

Collaboration

Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia wants to collaborate with our fence installation!

DaDara from the project says, "We noticed that in your project description you mentioned our Checkpoint Dreamyourtopia and issuing stamps for the Passport we'll hand out after interrogation etc. I think it would be also cool if you could "arrest" people and bring them over for interrogation.

Please give your thoughts and ideas. I love interactivity.

You can fill out the immigration forms at http://www.dadara.nl/checkpoint/immigration-forms.htm, so we can grant you entrance to your own dreams as well!

Maybe you could print out a bunch of those forms and tell people they first have to fill them out and get a passport before they can cross your wall.......anyway just connecting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g75c3dDZLDI"

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