A collaborative project with Ruby Wescoat for Open Spaces in Chattanooga. This install gave me more trouble than I anticipated at first, but the bugs are all ironed out now and I’m really happy with how it has turned out.
More than twenty hours of continuous video footage tracing the northern route of The Trail of Tears (from Tennessee through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas before ending in Tahlequah, Oklahoma) is advanced by the passage of pedestrians on the sidewalk. We’ve currently got the first part of the journey (to Cape Girardeau, MO on the Mississipi River) loaded on the computer onsite. I’m planning to get the second half of the footage sometime over the next few months. The installation is scheduled to be up until October 2015, by which point the video should have advanced to the end.
Huge thanks to Ruby for her brilliant conception of the project, and to everyone at River City Company for their work in organizing the exhibition. Special thanks to Heath Montgomery for his assistance in getting me over the finish line, and to Paige Southard for her continual patience and assistance throughout the project.
chrismcassidy 
so innovative! great job Ruby and Chris!
Posted by Linda Fiato | November 24, 2014, 8:17 amThanks, Lynne. I had a dumber, more obvious, idea for the project at first, and Ruby came up with a much more elegant approach. We’ll often bat ideas back and forth about our projects and help each other with production, but her contribution to this one was so transformative that it’ wouldn’t be at all accurate to call it just my work.
On a personal note, sorry to be so out of touch, but between this thing, Dubai, and Ruby’s project in Atlanta (pictures to come soon) I’ve been away more than I’ve been home this semester. Finals week is coming soon, so I hope to get some down time during December.
Posted by cmcassid | November 24, 2014, 12:44 pmChris – I would love to see you submit a proposal for an art event in Chapel Hill / Carrboro! SHIMMER: The Art of Light is moving into its second year and the Call to Artists is out. http://www.shimmerevent.com and click on “Artists” to access the Call to Artists. Great to find you, and looking forward to seeing a submission from you.
Posted by Sarah Wolfe | October 13, 2016, 10:21 pm