marc thorpe proposes 'citizens of earth', a flying saucer-shaped installation for marfa, texas

marc thorpe has proposed an installation for the city of marfa, texas titled ‘citizens of earth’, which intends to question the value of international borders within the context of the 21st century. the location for the project would be the desert community positioned approximately 20 miles outside of marfa, on the border of mexico and the united states — a site famous for its large-scale installations by donald judd, elmgreen & dragset and many more. ‘the socio-political rationalization for borders drawn on the earth have proven throughout history to be problematic,’ thorpe posits. ‘war, poverty, famine, disease, political and economic instability, terrorism, environmental degradation, racism, genocide and much more are all byproducts of the ceaseless reinforcement of borders.’

thorpe envisions the form of ‘citizens of earth’ to be reminiscent of the flying saucer typology, first reported in 1947 in the US. in both a figurative and literal sense, the disc reflects our existence on this planet, and suggests that if we are not alone in the universe, that we must represent ourselves as one united civilization. the installation would comprise a polished steel disc that appears to hover in the middle of the desert, gently reflecting the surrounding border of the united states and mexico. depending on the time of day and lighting conditions, the disc appears to vanish and seamlessly assimilate into the landscape, blurring the distinction between light and dark, solid and void, sky and earth, united states and mexico.

‘currently, countries, societies, and communities are becoming increasingly polarized,’ thorpe continues. ‘the military strategy of divide and conquer is being implemented around the globe by governments, corporations and the media in an attempt to separate us by stressing our differences. feeding on division, insecurity and fear pushing us further into isolated corners of apathy and indifference towards our neighbor. so the question becomes, what if there were no more borders? what would it take for mankind to shift from me to we? what if we all understood ourselves as citizens of earth working towards a common purpose? what would our new unified purpose be?’

project info:

designer: marc thorpe

visualization by: truetopia

title: citizens of earth

type: proposal

location: marfa, texas