Toy an Horse, 1997

For INSITE97, Marcos Ramírez ERRE collaborated with several artists to construct Toy an Horse, a monumental wood and metal replica of the iconic Trojan Horse. Installed directly on top of the monument marking the border about fifty meters from the border cross-checkpoint at San Ysidro, the horse was visible to the 50,000 people crossing the border by car every day. Ramírez stated that the purpose of the project was to use the narrative symbolism of the Trojan horse to stimulate discussion about the border, invasion, cultural exchange, and dependency.

A second component of the project was engaging the craftspeople who make plaster souvenirs that are sold at the border to create replicas of the horse. The replicas were then sold in the traffic lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry—thus enlisting unwitting commuters to effect the “invasion” of the horse from Mexico to the US.

Curators: Jessica Bradley, Olivier Debroise, Ivo Mesquita, and Sally Yard
Venue: San Ysidro