Symbols & Food
Prada Marfa
Prada Marfa is a permanent 2005 land-art installation by Elmgreen & Dragset on U.S. 90 near Valentine, where a sealed faux luxury boutique became an internationally recognized image of the West Texas landscape.
- Roster rank
- #241
- Category
- Symbols & Food
- Subject type
- Place
- Profile source
- Published Texas Icons profile
Texas story
Story and significance
Artists Elmgreen & Dragset created Prada Marfa as a site-specific permanent land-art project commissioned and produced by Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa. The work opened on October 1, 2005, on U.S. 90 about one mile west of Valentine, Texas, not in the city of Marfa itself.
The sculpture is modeled on a Prada boutique and contains goods from Prada's fall 2005 collection, but its door remains locked and it has never functioned as a store. Prada granted permission for the branding and provided design information and merchandise; Ballroom Marfa emphasizes that the artwork was not a normal commercial Prada shop or a retail venture.
Defining work
What to know
- 2005 site-specific installation
- Elmgreen & Dragset
- Ballroom Marfa
- Art Production Fund
- U.S. 90 near Valentine
Timeline
Key milestones
- 2005Prada Marfa opens on October 1 along U.S. 90 west of Valentine.
- 2005-presentThe sealed installation remains a permanent West Texas land-art landmark rather than a functioning store.
Texas connections
Places in the story
Valentine
The installation stands roughly one mile west of Valentine on U.S. 90.
Marfa
The nearby arts community whose name the installation uses and where co-producer Ballroom Marfa is based.
Legacy
Why the story lasts
Prada Marfa became one of West Texas's most photographed contemporary artworks by placing luxury-brand architecture against a sparse desert-road landscape.
Accuracy requires distinguishing the artwork from the town of Marfa and from a commercial Prada boutique: it sits near Valentine and was produced as art by nonprofit partners.
Sources
Research trail
Cross-linked profiles