Explore the Response from Texas Department of Transportation of this artwork.
The installation remained unnoticed by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) until 2013, when Playboy erected a 40-foot-tall (12 m) neon bunny nearby along the same stretch of road, which attracted the attention of TxDOT to both installations. TxDOT considered both the Playboy neon bunny and the Prada sign on the Prada Marfa installation to be advertisements, and permits are required to display such signs along a US highway on unlicensed land according to the 1965 Highway Beautification Act. Both installations violated the permitted specifications for billboards, and a demand to remove the neon bunny was issued by the TxDOT, but no immediate decision was made for Prada Marfa. Michael Elmgreen commented on the suggestion that Prada Marfa is an illegal advertisement for Prada: "There is no company behind the artwork. It was not commissioned by Prada [...] They never, ever asked me to do advertisement for them." In September 2014, TxDOT officials announced that the structure would be reclassified as a museum, with the Prada Marfa as its only exhibit. This action exempts the structure from the same signage rules that forced the removal of the neon bunny installed by Playboy magazine.
Prada Texas Department of Transportation Marfa Texas Highway Beautification Act Playboy