The famous faux Prada store on the outskirts of lovely Marfa, Texas, has been saved, thanks to the reclassification of the space as a single-exhibit art museum. Created in 2005 by Scandinavian artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, and today stocked with six bags (bottomless, to prevent a repeat of the time it was ransacked) and 20 right shoes, the permanent roadside installation was labeled an "illegal outdoor advertising sign" by the always concise Texas Department of Transportation last year. For a while, it looked as if Prada Marfa would be forced to leave town, like the copycat Playboy installation that caused the department to suddenly take an active interest in the legal status of Marfa's roadside art.
Now, thanks to the efforts of local non-profit arts space Ballroom Marfa, the town has lost a store-shaped sculpture and gained a tiny museum. "Prada Marfa is not going anywhere," Daniel Chamberlain, a spokesman for Ballroom Marfa, tells the Associated Press. "We are pleased to have worked with them and are happy to have come to a resolution." Beyonce is also pleased.
· Prada Marfa Saved [The Art Newspaper]