Coasters as Art

It's no secret that I (Paul) love roller coasters, and am willing to travel far and wide to experience unique and thrilling rides. This past weekend I rode a roller coaster that was unlike any other - an art exhibit!

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), located in the far northwest corner of the state in a former textile factory and electric company, hosts rotating art exhibits. To the delight of coaster enthusiasts, in late 2022 they opened an exhibit by artist EJ Hill that included a working roller coaster. The coaster allows just one rider per hour, which "inverts the experience of riding a roller coaster, transforming it from a shared ritual of joy and terror to an individual performance." Riders must book ahead of time, and tickets go quickly each time a batch is released. Luckily I was able to book a slot on the final weekend the ride was open before removal of the exhibit.

MASS MoCa is in the small town of North Adams, which is not too close to any major airport. Albany airport is a little more than an hour away, buy I flew into Bradley airport north of Hartford Connecticut, since it was quite a bit cheaper and had better direct flight options from Atlanta. I landed on a Friday evening and drove an hour and 45 minutes to my hotel, Porches, which is directly across the street from the museum. It's a cool hotel, located in a series of renovated 19th-century row houses. I walked and had dinner at PUBLIC eat+drink and a quick beer at Bright Ideas brewing before heading back to the hotel for sleep.

View of MASS MoCA at night.

Mac and Cheese for dinner.

A quick beer at the brewery.

My hotel room had interesting art.

Saturday morning I woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. I had some extra time before the museum opened at 10AM, so I looked at what was nearby and saw a historic cemetery, Hillside Cemetery, just up the road. I went for a walk around the cemetery, which had a lot of cool historic graves and had some nice views on a frosty but sunny morning. I then checked out of the hotel and went over to the museum for my 10:15 appointment with the coaster (the first appointment of the day).

Hillside cemetery.

Lots of old graves.

A big tomb.

The backside of Porches hotel.

The hotel lobby.

This way to the museum!

A big banner for the exhibit.

There was an art vending machine.

MASS MoCA.

The ride is really neat. It was manufactured by Skyline attractions, so it's a legitimate roller coaster and was built to normal safety standards. It's located in a huge two-story space in the center of the museum. It's on a small wooden platform that looks like a stage, and rider boarding occurs behind a big two-story curtain, to highlight the "performance" aspect of the ride. I signed my waiver and stepped into the one-person vehicle. Since it was the very first ride of the day and the museum had only been open 15 minutes, there were just two spectators for my ride. Later rides had bigger crowds watching. The ride starts with the museum employee giving the car a push to send it through the hole in the curtain. The first drop is maybe 15 feet tall or so, dropping down into the big exhibit space. You then rise up a hill and into an undulating downward turn to the right. A slight left turn leads to a stall out on an upwards hill, a coast backwards losing momentum, and then a coast forwards coming to a stop. The ride is smooth and fun, and is essentially like a short kiddie coaster.

Part of the exhibit.

Yay I'm tall enough.

The boarding area behind the curtain.

Winching up the car.

The first drop.

Overview of the whole ride.

S-curve.

Proof I rode it!

Another part of the exhibit had some display cars.

Nice lighting on the track.

In-between rides patrons can walk all around the coaster.

Close up of the wheel assemblies.

The rest of the museum is worth visiting, and I spent a couple of hours exploring. Some of my favorite exhibits were a dark room with a large rectangle of shredded newspaper in the middle with projected video, a shrine to the internet, and an exhibit on student loan debt consisting of hundreds of bowls filled with change. I made one last trip back to the roller coaster exhibit before leaving. It's estimated that only around 2,000 people rode the coaster during the exhibition period, so I'm happy and lucky to have this credit! It's unclear at this point what will happen to the coaster, but as a very site-specific installation with such a low capacity there aren't many options. It may just be scrapped, but my hope is that it can be relocated to the National Roller Coaster Museum.

One of the interior museum spaces.

A big mural exhibit.

A well lit room.

Bowls and bowls and bowls.

All filled with change.

A cool projection onto shredded newspaper.

It's the internet shrine!

It came complete with an AI generated prayer for the internet.

There was a random acoustic instrument meetup in the museum cafe.

Next I drove back towards the Bradley airport, stopping at Broad Brook Brewing for a late lunch. Luckily the weather was great - it was an abnormally warm day, so I didn't have any problems with driving in ice or snow. I flew back to Atlanta, wrapping up a quick trip to ride a unique coaster.

My drive went past Susan B Anthony's birthplace!

A brewery near the airport was a good stop for a late lunch.

A delicious beet-za pizza. Yes I had leftovers, and yes I took them through security and back to Atlanta for dinner. :)