This Prada Store Opened For 15 Years Without Selling A Product.

In the 42 kilometers northwest of Marfa Town, Texas, there is a lonely Prada (Prada) store beside US-90 road. Through two huge glass windows, you can see Prada, autumn and winter series in the shop: clothing, handbags, shoes and so on. In addition, Prada Marfa store also has a glass door, a door that can not be opened and symbolized.

Prada Marfa store is not a conventional retail store, but a conceptual building. It was built by American artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset in 2005. With the support of Ballroom Production, New York Art Production Fund foundation and Texas non profit art organization Ballroom, it spent $120 thousand, using adobe bricks, plaster, paint, glass panels, aluminum frames, MDF and other materials. The original idea is to let the building "self destruction", not repair, not refurbish until slowly decayed, into the surrounding desolate.

Elmgreen and Dragset had worked with Prada as early as 2001. The Marfa shop has also received official support from Prada: Prada has been granted trademark authorization, and indoor Prada objects have been carefully selected by Prada CEO Miuccia Prada. In this way, although the Prada Marfa store has some criticality, such as consumerism, luxury brand advocacy and gentrification, it has also become an endorsement of consumerism intentionally or unintentionally.

After completion, the building went through all kinds of events that allowed the artist to anticipate or predict Elmgreen and Dragset: graffiti was destroyed, stolen and robbed, self made network red sanctuary, and even once hundreds of business cards were placed around the walls, with all kinds of small stones on them.

Stolen and robbed

Prada Marfa shop officially opened in 2005 that night, someone broke through the window, stole 6 handbags and 14 shoes (only right foot), and the walls on both sides were painted with "Dum Dum" and "Dumb (idiot)" graffiti. After that, the Prada Marfa store was rebuilt, and the contents were added to it, and the alarm system was added. However, the Prada Marfa shop is no longer in its original mind - "self destruction", slowly rotting into the surrounding area.

Sabotage

In March 2014, someone painted the Prada Marfa shop into light blue, replacing the awning of the Prada brand Logo with the fake logo of the shoe brand Tom shoes (TOMS Shoes), with a political slogan posted on the door. Subsequently, Ballroom Marfa, a non-profit organization in Texas, decided to find and prosecute the destroyers and promised to repair the building. Soon after, the 32 year old Texas artist Joe Magnano was arrested and fined $1000 to compensate the Ballroom Marfa organization for $10700.

Traffic control

Before that, the Prada Marfa store had almost demolished the Texas traffic bureau because the Playboy set up a 12 metre high rabbit girl near the highway of Prada Marfa and attracted the attention of the traffic bureau. Dezhou traffic bureau believes that all two buildings violate the highway beautification act of the United States. At the same time, the Prada Marfa store is recognized as an advertisement for Prada. Michael Elmgreen replied at the time, "Prada Marfa shop is not officially supported by Prada, and they have never asked me to advertise Prada." In September 2014, the Dezhou Transport Bureau finally announced that the Prada Marfa shop was a museum property and was only used for exhibition and would not be demolished.

Since 2012, when American singer Beyonce passed a photo of Prada Marfa shop, she sent it to Instagram, where she became a "self sanctuary". Today, there are over more than 50 thousand self related posts on Instagram.

Today, the Prada Marfa store is still standing alone on US-90 Road, and now receives tourists from Prada. Although the repair has long gone against the original intention of the artists Elmgreen and Dragset, its experience has also been legendary.