Multimedia Exhibition Of US-Mexico Border Wall Coming To National Building Museum

WASHINGTON, DC — The National Building Museum is opening a new exhibition in November that will offer visitors a multimedia look at the wall separating the United States and Mexico.

The exhibition, “The Wall/El Muro: What is a Border Wall?” will examine the role of design, architecture, planning and engineering in addressing border issues.

Featuring hundreds of photographs, artifacts and video, “The Wall/El Muro” will place into context the 21st-century application of an ancient theme: building walls in the name of security. The exhibition will be presented in both English and Spanish.

“Borders are invented, imaginary places,” exhibition curator Sarah A. Leavitt Ph.D. said in a statement. “They change over time, and they are policed differently over time.”

Visitors will get to listen to a soundscape of the border near the wall in Otay Mesa, California, hearing insects, wind and the ever-present security drones. They will listen to voices of local teenagers who have crossed the border and see an actual full-size section of border fence that once stood between Calexico, California and Mexicali, Baja California.

The exhibition will also include models of old and new border infrastructure, migrant belongings left behind in the Sonoran Desert, and a pop-art poster that once welcomed visitors into the United States. Infographics will highlight statistics that represent the growing wall infrastructure, as well as its cost and impact.

The year-long installation will serve as the centerpiece for related programming. The other topics will include the history of a physical border, its impact on the environment and local communities, and the ethics around designing structures of exclusion.

The exhibition opens on Nov. 6. The National Building Museum, at 401 F Street NW, requires all visitors aged 2 and older to wear a face covering while visiting the museum, regardless of vaccination status.

The purchase of tickets in advance is suggested, but not required. Same-day, walk-up tickets can be purchased at the museum’s visitor center.

Tickets are not required to visit the museum’s Great Hall, the Museum Shop and the Gun Violence Memorial Project.

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