Displacement: Barge Prototype
2014, as part of the Trans–Empire Canal Corp
Displacement: Barge Prototype was the first phase of a 4-part project exhibited at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. It was both an art installation and an art gallery which explored the crosscurrents in contemporary art. The context for the exhibition was an Erie Canal barge which operated as a symbol of art as a commodity. It suggested the exchange of cultural ideas between different geographical locations, namely Buffalo and New York City. In addition, through an experimental curatorial format, it attempted to engage artists and audience to participate in aspects of curation generally hidden from view.
BPAC Exhibition link
Background
The Erie Canal was originally designed to be a commercial thoroughfare between the mid-western United States and the East Coast. As this commercial infrastructure was replaced by railways and new shipping channels, and the identity of the communities connected by the Erie Canal shifted, it became essential to redefine the purpose and potentiality of the canal as a device for connectivity. In a rush to modern modes of production and communication, it is necessary to reconsider the value of past methodologies. Revisiting this past, with a new purpose and lens, discoveries of community connection and aesthetic similarities emerge.
About TECC
The Trans-Empire Canal Corporation (TECCORP) is a collective comprised of artists, architects, and curators; Erika Abbondanzieri, Scotty Bye, Brian Larson Clark, Olivier Delrieu-Schulze, A.J. Fries, Katherine Gaudy, Julian Montague, and Scott Propeack. Our main goal is to acquire a barge, convert it to an art space, and sail it down the Erie Canal from Buffalo to New York City, engaging the artists and people of New York State along the way.
Our Mission
TECCORP seeks to purpose art as a tool to create community and cultural connections across the Empire State.
TECCORP is focused on the geographic, economic, environmental, historical, and cultural resources the Erie Canal corridor provides New York State: from Buffalo to New York City.
TECCORP will connect New York State’s institutions, artists, and audiences in a deliberate re-examination of the complex infrastructural role the Erie Canal offers our great state.
TECCORP will realize this mission through a series of exhibitions, performances, and dialogue concluding in a mobile gallery that will travel from Buffalo to New York City with multiple moorings in between.