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Podcast: New Books in Art
Episode: Ronald Rael, âBorderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundaryâ (U California Press, 2017)
Description: With the passage of the Secure Fence Act in 2006, the U.S. Congress authorized funding for what has become the largest domestic construction project in twenty-first century America. The result? Approximately 700 miles of fencing, barricades, and walls comprised of newly built and repurposed materials, strategically placed along the 1,954-mile international border between the United Mexican States and the United States of America. At an initial cost of $3.4 billion, the most current estimates predict that the expense of maintaining the existing wall will exceed $49 billion by 2032. Envisioned solely as a piece of security infrastructureâwith minimal input from architects and de...