The Route of Progress rears its head from the heartland of New York. Its path traces the beginnings of globalization that resulted from the short-lived, yet enduring Erie Canal. Built along the Mohawk River and tracing animal tracks turned hunting portages, the Canal is the first uninterrupted water route connecting the Northeast to the Midwest. Quickly bypassed by the faster railroads, the Canal was obsolete after a twenty-five year heyday. Yet it burrowed into our history and culture, and remains relevant today. The Canal opened the United States to itself, connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, and positioned New York City as an international commercial port. After the Canal’s construction, the communities it bridged were open to worldwide business, carried whichever way the water went. This hybrid man- and nature-made waterway catalyzed our country’s involvement in early global trade. The Canal’s subsequent decline meant that globalization left Upstate as quickly as it had come. We need not solely look toward developing countries to see the effects of globalization, industrialization, and development. Here in upstate New York, in examining the land, with toxic refuse amidst bits of rich soil, these effects are just as clear.
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During the summer of 2007 Carrie Dashow and Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg took a two-month-long trip along and beyond the Erie Canal. The Route of Progress bore 2 major components; the 13th Screen dynamic group editing production and Shape Note music. Please see the 13th screen Video portion of the tour.
Stopping in each town for under a week, Carrie would gather local information from various sources and write it into verse, handing it off to Jesse to compose. Jesse would hold traditional shape note singing workshops and each visit concluded with a participatory presentation where we would all sing and stories and watch the 13th screen.
Further information:
Press:
- Press Release 2007
- Ninth Letter (Arts Supplement, Summer 2011)
- New York Sun
- Lockport Union
Funding:
- New York State Council on the Arts, Individual Artist Grant
- Experimental Television Center, Finishing Funds as an agency of NYFA
- The New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisory Committee
- The Tank, a space for performing and visual arts in New York City
- Arts Center of the Capital Region
- The Roland Corporation
