Citizens of Earth is an installation proposed by Marc Thorpe for the city of Marfa Texas.
The location for the project would be positioned approximately 20 miles outside of Marfa on the border of Mexico and the United States. Famous for its arts and humanities, artworks and large-scale installations from Don Judd, Dan Flavin, Elmgreen & Dragset, Jeff Elrod, John Wesley, Robert Irwin, Charline von Heyl and many more are found within and around this desert community of 1700 residents.
The intention of the project is to question the value of international borders within the context of the 21st century. The socio-political rationalization for borders drawn on the earth has proven throughout history to be problematic. 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.
Currently, countries, societies, and communities are becoming increasingly polarized. 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 to push us further into isolated corners of apathy and indifference towards our neighbor.
So the question comes, what if there were no more borders? What would it take for mankind to shift from me to us? What if we all understood ourselves as citizens of the earth working towards a common purpose? What would our new unified purpose be?
