Open Border, Tempe, Arizona
"Open Border" addresses the blurred area where the university and the city
intersect. Thousands of vehicles pass by this area each day and "Open
Border" was designed to represent one of the most important aspects to a
public university, that it is open to all and that barriers to entrance are
minimized to encourage all to participate, there is no barrier to what a
person can learn or achieve through education. My piece is designed to
dispel the idea of a border between a community and a university a border
that does not actually exist. I involved two local community school groups
to help with the installation by selecting and stacking the individual
modules that compose the fence posts. By involving local students,
additional barriers are bridged those between the artist and the public
and between primary and higher education.