Caballos de Vigilancia

Fake Dead Horse Listening Outposts

These resin sculptures are outside the Chinati Foundation in Marfa. In WWI, the New York Times reported on men at the front using papier-mache to substitute for the carcasses of dead horses on the front, which could then be used as surveillence posts. Marfa has a long history as a military base (now it is a center for the Border Patrol, which even floats a huge aerostat above the area to radar for smugglers). Horses were a big part of it. Two of them were working when we were there, one playing bagpipe music and one playing an old-timey country song about Marfa. They're amazing, created in conjunction with Steven Badgett, and suprisingly comfortable. If you want to read more about them, go here: http://www.ballroommarfa.org/announce_marfa_sessions.html