Border Tuner / Sintonizador Fronterizo

Relational Architecture 23

"Border Tuner" is a large-scale, participatory art installation designed to interconnect the cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Powerful searchlights make “bridges of light” that open live sound channels for communication across the US-Mexico border. The piece creates a fluid canopy of light that can be modified by visitors to six interactive stations, three placed in El Paso and three in Juárez.

Each of the interactive “Border Tuner” stations features a microphone, a speaker and a large wheel or dial. As a participant turns the dial, three nearby searchlights create an “arm” of light that follows the movement of the dial, automatically scanning the horizon. When two such “arms of light” meet in the sky and intersect, automatically a bidirectional channel of sound is opened between the people at the two remote stations. As they speak and hear each other, the brightness of the “light bridge” modulates in sync, —a glimmer similar to a Morse code scintillation. Every interactive station can tune any other, so for example a participant in Mexico can connect to the three US-based stations or to the other two in Mexico, as they wish.

"Border Tuner" is not only designed to create new connections between the communities on both sides of the border, but to make visible the relationships that are already in place: magnifying existing relationships, conversations and culture. The piece is intended as a visible “switchboard” of communication where people can self-represent. The project seeks to provide a platform for a wide-range of local voices and an opportunity to draw international attention to the co-existence and interdependence between the sister cities that create the largest bi-national metropolitan area in the western hemisphere.

Border Tuner official site

General info

Spanish name:
Sintonizador Fronterizo
Year of creation:
2019

Public Art

Technique:
Xenon 7kW robotic searchlights, dials with digital encoders, webcams, GPS, speakers, microphones, custom-software
Dimensions:
Interactive area 300 × 300 yards (275 x 275 meters), visibility 10 mile radius (15 Km) depending on atmospheric conditions
Keywords:
outdoor, interactive, performance, robotic, lights, sound, recorder, site-specific, print, indoor

Exhibitions

  • Public Art in Review, UAP & Artsy, New York City, New York, United States, 2024.
  • TECHS-MECHS: A Survey of Mexican Technological Culture, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, Grand Theatre, San Francisco, California, United States, 2023.
  • Antimonuments and Social Art Practice: A Panoramic Presentation of Platforms for Public Self-Representation, Iowa State University College of Design , Ames , Iowa, United States, 2022.
  • Border Tuner / Sintonizador Fronterizo, Bowie High School / Chamizal Park, Ciudad Juárez, México / El Paso, Texas, United States, 2019.

Credits

  • View the official project page for credits

Bibliography