Rail~Sail

Rail Sail is the emergent project of collaborators Joe Riley, Audrey Snyder, and Ricki Dwyer re-imagining wind, sea, and sail within the context of atop the post-industrial corridors of abandoned railroads. A wind-powered railroad vehicle connects urban and rural concourses, guided by chance and desire rather than reason or economy. The railroad corridor—an early infrastructure toward the industrial annihilation of time and space—is reconfigured as a site for seriously playful degrowth. This effort presents a strategy of reclaiming—as a prairie might reclaim a fallow field—which undermines efficiencies of commodity production against a backdrop of resource extraction and ecological upheaval.

The wind in the sail for the Rail/Sail project was a call on collaborators to help with navigating KC-area railroads, agricultural history, and rivers. Following the opening at Front Space, participants gathered around a series of meals and discussion to plan the launch of Rail Sail. Responding to the question: “where is the railroad?” participants offered to “guide” or “ride” with the Rail Sail at several sites in and around the city. This merging of geography and memory came together as two rivers might meet, ebb, flood and recede.