Interview with Tara Youngborg

The following interview with Tara Youngborg was conducted during the run of her exhibition "Abadonware [houses] on view at Hillyer during the month of June 2026. Abandonware [houses] June 6--28, 2026 The New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad (NCFRR) was one of the first railroads in the United States. The railroad only operated for 28 years; as newer, more direct railways were built, the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad was abandoned, and then without a commercial artery, the town of Frenchtown was also deserted. This obsolescence of the railroad and town is analogous to digital technological loss in its root in the movement of capital and technological change. In this exhibition, Youngborg engages with the town’s archive in conjunction with contemporary data to try and recreate a ghost without its community. Through glitch, loss, and (visual and sonic) layering, the sound and video installation questions the role of data, archives, and recreation in understanding place, loss and memory.