Illuminating Futures “Walkshops” in Ashland Oct. 3

Join Prospectus artist Dan Borelli as he gives “walkshop” tours of his new exhibit at Ashland (MA) Public Library and of sites in town connected to his Illuminating Futures project, the focus of which is the Nyanza Colorant Plant, one of the nation’s first designated Superfund sites.

Illuminating Futures is an art-based research project “that unpacks the various histories surrounding this contaminated community and the manufacturing of color,” according to Dan. “The exhibit contextualizes the narrative of science and history with mappings, artifacts, and first-hand stories from people that were directly impacted” by Nyanza. The significance of staging the exhibit at the Ashland Public Library has to do with the fact that the US Environmental Protection Agency’s repository of remediation work on the Nyanza site resides there. “These ‘walkshops’ will combine gallery talks and tours of the Town of Ashland and the spatial network of this expanded art project which, in the future, will encompass modified streetlights and a public garden,” says Dan.

Dan will conduct the 90-minute tours at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on October 3 as part of ArtWeek Boston. They are free and open to the public. “Various notation, recording and media devices are strongly encouraged,” Dan says.

The exhibit will be on view through December 19 on days the Ashland Public Library is open (click here for open days and hours).

Borelli, who grew up in Ashland, began Illuminating Futures in 2010. His Prospectus project, The Cloud of Unknowing: Our Future Is Our History, is the first part of it. Recent work on Illuminating Futures, including the exhibit and preparation for the streetlight and public garden phases of the project, are being funded by ArtPlace America and NEA Our Town grants.