a sneaker specifically designed to cross the border...

BRINCO (JUMP)
With Brinco , Judi Werthein has created a project that links migrants’ efforts to cross the border illegally with the increasing global corporatization of goods and labor. The project is a uniquely designed sneaker, trademarked Brinco . The design of the shoe is inspired by information and materials that are relevant to, and could provide assistance to, those illegally crossing the border. Underscoring the tensions sparked by the global spread and mobility of the maquiladora, the sneaker will be manufactured in China. In counterpoint to its potential for utilitarian use by Mexican migrants, the sneaker will be sold as a one-of-a-kind art object and will be available in the United States during inSite_05 in Blends, a high end sneaker store located in Down Town San Diego. In a single object Judi reveals the contradictions between fashion, competition in the manufacturing industry, and migratory flows, themes that lie and the heart of the dynamics of labor geography in today’s world.

Judi Werthein proposes to create a pseudo American corporation that will design and fabricate a sneaker specifically designed to cross the border. She proposes that the sneakers will be included in the survival kit that the Grupo Beta distributes to deportees and people attempting to cross the border illegally. The sneaker will include in it’s inner sole a map, a note book, a compass, and a wallet. The sneakers will also be sold as an art object during inSite_05 .

Her proposal intervenes on the flows of labor and goods across the border and addresses the global issue of the contradiction between free movement of goods and trade and the restricted movement of people.