A Gathering of Waters: Rio Grande, Source to Sea (1995-2000)
Basia Irland
This complex participatory project involved an extended performance staged along the path of the world's third most endangered river, the 1885-mile Rio Grande/Río Bravo basin, which extends from Colorado, through New Mexico, along the Mexican border, and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

"Hundreds of artists, government agencies, private water users, farmers, ranchers, Native American leaders, and ordinary people collected small river water samples in a canteen and logged their experiences in a field book. The canteen and log book, which were voluntarily passed hand-to-hand, community-to-community, traveled by "boat, raft, canoe, hot-air balloon, car, van, horseback, truck, bicycle, mail, and by foot," 43 tying diverse communities to a common interest."

—green museum