April 2009
1 post
¡SUPER NAFTA LAND! in the FUTURE.city.past.FORWARD... →
March 2009
1 post
¡SUPER NAFTA LAND! on BLDG BLOG →
February 2009
1 post
¡SuperNAFTALand! on Flickr →
Images from this project posted on Flickr.
January 2009
4 posts
The End
Thanks to an amazing team of helpers I finally finished the project, and had my review on Friday. I’ll have to watch the tape to remember exactly what was said , but it was rocking. I will be posting images and work from the project in the next few days now that I have time to spend uploading stuff. The review pictures below were taken by Yvette Herrera.
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December 2008
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Aeroponic Farming and the Artificial Landscape
In order to provide enough food and power for the inhabitants of ¡Super NAFTA Land! the desert landscape between Tijuana and El Paso will be covered with swaths of aeroponic farms and solar panels. Flexibility is provided by an interchangable system of acre sized pods, that can be plugged into different structural systems and generate resources for the border region. A network of trains connect...
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November 2008
8 posts
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Alex Rivera comes to Rice University
Today Alex Rivera came to the Rice Media Center to discuss and present selections from his filmography, which all deal with the issues of immigration and borders. Most pertinent to my thesis was the ‘Border Trilogy’, 3 short films showing different aspects of the border issue. In the films the mobility of capital is contrasted with the immobility of people in a specific and personal...
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Low Drone →
A remote control low-rider spy drone created by Alex Rivera and Angel Nevarez in order to increase the level of satire surveying the US border patrol.
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The Border Trilogy →
3 short documentaries by Alex Rivera about economic and immigration issues in the US and Mexico, concentrating on the tension between the free flow of capital and goods versus the immobility of people.
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Border drug cartels infiltrating Interpol →
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October 2008
5 posts
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Running Fence →
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Running fence project.
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WatchGraphs I created to illustrate the economic ties and immigration flows between the US and Mexico. Music is ‘Time Bomb’ by Vex’d. Link to HD version of video: http://www.vimeo.com/1891833 Sources: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2010.html, Jesus Cañas et al. U.S., Mexico Deepen Economic Ties, http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/data/2006/upl-meta-crs,...
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September 2008
11 posts
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DHS Border Fence Design Criteria
However, design criteria require that, at a minimum, the fence must be 16 feet high and 3 to 6 feet below ground, capable of withstanding a crash of a 10,000-pound (gross weight) vehicle traveling at 40 miles per hour, capable of withstanding vandalism, cutting or penetrating; semi-transparent, as dictated by operational need, designed to survive extreme climate changes, able to reduce any minimal...
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El Grito →
September 16th is Mexican Independence Day.
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Manifest Destiny
Sources: http://www.uintahbasintah.org/maps/usterritories.jpg / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mexico_states_evolution.gif
“The border is not where the U.S. stops and Mexico begins. It’s where the...”
– Betty Flores, former mayor of Laredo TX.
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Mapping the Border
Below are 3 different methods of mapping the border region, each defining a different spatial boundary.
1. The US / Mexico Border According to Transportation Networks
2. The Hydroregionalization of the US / Mexico Border
3. The US / Mexico Border According to Political Boundaries
The US / Mexico Border According to Transportation Networks. Sources: Barton-Aschman & La Empresa,...
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Secure Fence Act of 2006
This is the law that was passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by President Bush calling for the construction of nearly 700 miles of walls along the US/Mexico border. I’ve also included the senate vote tally, with a few highlighted names to show that no matter the results of November 4th, this policy will be continued for the foreseeable future.
Secure Fence Act of 2006...
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Project Statement
The US / Mexico border is a line of division between two nations and a moment of connection between the local border communities such as the sister cities. These competing (often conflicting) interests of the border region at the federal and local scales create a dynamic, hybridized, and rapidly growing regional zone known as ‘Amexica’ or the ‘third space’. The emergence and potential of...