The Hoosic River Expedition is a conceptual art-walk in North Adams, MA. The value of this speculative design project was its function as a community engagement tool. Initially conceptualized as the Hoosic River Expedition, the series of installation proposals form a speculative art trail along the channelized sections of the Hoosic river. The goal of this project, created during Borden’s 2016 Studios at MASS MoCA residency, was not to build an art trail, but to use the process of imagining installation art as an engaging form of public outreach. Borden’s designs are intended to highlight diverse cultural and ecological issues and ultimately promote a constructive public dialogue about the community stewardship of the river. The proposed site-responsive works are community memorial, testament, critique, and celebration of the Hoosic River and address issues of river ecology, access, recreation, water quality, infrastructure, as well as cultural history, practice, and future.

A 2019 follow-up residency at MASS MoCA enable Borden to collaborate with Casey N Keenan to progress the work into an animated “virtual tour” of the speculative art-walk along the river. Keenan and Borden developed the original static illustrations into a media-rich experience with the addition of Keenan’s original score, sound design, and narration. The Borden-Keenan collaboration, entitled Hoosic Virtual Tour, produced a series of social media friendly videos in service of Hoosic River awareness and stewardship.

PROJECT UPDATE: The Hoosic Virtual Tour will debut at the “"This Land Is…” exhibition at the Elaine L Jacob Gallery at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. The group show, curated by Jennifer Belair Sakarian, features works created through a wide variety of disciplines by artists who address current and future environmental concerns. The artists confront political, cultural, and social ecological changes by observing sentimental landmarks and documenting their importance. This exhibition (October 25th to December 13th) includes works by the following artists: David Buckley Borden and Casey N Keenan, Sophie-Madeleine Jaillet, Sarah Anne Johnson, and Margaret Laurena Kemp. Borden and Keenan, along with Kemp, will give an artist talk at the gallery on October 24th at 6:30PM

About Casey N Keenan

Casey Keenan is a composer and sound designer with over 25 years of music experience. He has appeared on numerous albums as a member of Major Stars (Drag City records), Pants Yell! (Slumberland records), and many other projects. A multi-instrumentalist who has written and recorded his own music since getting a cassette 4-track at the age of fourteen, a lifetime of exposure and immersion to a wide spectrum of musical styles demands an element of the unconventional in everything he creates. A native of Bath, Maine, Keenan can now be found at his Gravity Wave Studios in Cambridge, MA. Visit gravitywavestudios.com for more information about Casey’s practice.

Aout The Studios at MASS MoCA

The Studios is MASS MoCA’s artist residency program situated within the museum’s factory campus and surrounded by the beautiful Berkshire Mountains. Operated by MASS MoCA’s program Assets for Artists, the residency runs year-round and hosts up to 12 artists at a time. Artists can apply for stays of 1-8 weeks, though most offered stays are 2-5 weeks.

Special thanks to folks from the Assets for Artists, Hoosic River Revival, Williams College, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, MASS MoCA, and Sasaki Associates for sharing their insight, research, and passion.