Key Takeaways
- The exhibition The Disappointed Tourist by Ellen Harvey transforms memories of vanished places into postcard‑style paintings and is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Connecticut (MoCA CT) in Westport from 25 June to 2 August 2026.
- It is part of an international art journey that has already appeared in the United Kingdom, Austria, Poland, Ireland, New Jersey, Venice, and Chicago, with each stop adding locally nominated sites.
- Four newly commissioned works showcase Connecticut‑specific lost landmarks: The Remarkable Book Shop, Cedar Brook Café, Bloodroot (Bridgeport), and Allen’s Clam House, illustrating themes of commercial change, LGBTQ+ history, feminist activism, and environmental stewardship.
- A community conversation held on 16 July 2026 brought together the artist, a local journalist, a preservation advocate, and audience members to discuss how disappearing sites shape identity and heritage.
- Visitor information includes admission fees ($10 general, $8 suggested for students/seniors, free for members and children ≤12), accessible facilities, and directions from New York City via Metro‑North to Westport station plus a short taxi or ride‑hail trip.
- The show ties into MoCA CT’s Looking for History season, which aligns with the United States’ 250th‑anniversary reflections on memory, migration, industrial development, and community storytelling.
Overview of the Exhibition
The Museum of Contemporary Art Connecticut in Westport is currently hosting The Disappointed Tourist, an internationally travelled art project created by British‑born, Brooklyn‑based artist Ellen Harvey. The installation consists of more than 320 hand‑coloured postcard‑style paintings that recreate buildings, restaurants, natural sites, and gathering places that no longer exist. By presenting these lost destinations as familiar, nostalgic postcards, the work invites viewers to reflect on what has disappeared and why those losses matter to personal and collective memory. The Westport showing runs from 25 June through 2 August 2026, offering a limited window for cultural tourists to engage with the project before it moves on to its next venue.
The Disappointed Tourist Project Origins
Harvey launched The Disappointed Tourist in 2019 as a public‑participation initiative. Individuals worldwide are invited to nominate a place they wish they could visit or revisit that has been erased by demolition, redevelopment, natural disaster, war, inequality, or environmental change. From these nominations, Harvey selects sites and renders them as faded, hand‑coloured postcards using acrylic and oil glazes on wooden panels. To date, over 400 contributors have nominated locations, resulting in more than 320 completed paintings. The collection juxtaposes intimate, personal memories—such as a beloved childhood bookstore—with globally significant losses, thereby creating a shared artistic landscape where modest neighbourhood businesses sit alongside internationally recognised monuments.
International Tour and Regional Contributions
Before arriving in Connecticut, the exhibition traveled to a series of prominent cultural institutions: Turner Contemporary in the United Kingdom, Museum der Moderne Salzburg in Austria, the Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Poland, Butler Gallery in Ireland, Rowan University in New Jersey, the Dorset Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and the Chicago Architecture Center. At each stop, local residents submitted nominations, and Harvey incorporated those selections into the growing body of work. This itinerary underscores the project’s global nature while emphasizing that every venue adds a distinct regional flavor, ensuring that the exhibition remains rooted in the specific histories and memories of its host communities.
Connecticut‑Specific Paintings and Their Stories
For the MoCA CT installation, Harvey produced four new paintings based on regional submissions, each illustrating a different facet of disappearance in Connecticut.
- The Remarkable Book Shop – Opened in 1963 at 177 Main Street in Westport, this colourful independent bookstore served as a literary hub before closing in 1995.
- Cedar Brook Café – A long‑standing gathering space widely remembered as a historically important gay bar; it ceased operations in 2010 and was later demolished.
- Bloodroot – Established in 1977 in Bridgeport’s Black Rock neighbourhood, this feminist vegetarian restaurant and bookstore became a vital cultural and activist destination before its closure in 2025. Though located outside Westport, its inclusion expands the exhibition’s regional scope and highlights decades of LGBTQ+ and feminist community life.
- Allen’s Clam House – A century‑old waterfront business that shut down in the late 1990s; the site was subsequently acquired by the Town of Westport, transformed into the Sherwood Mill Pond Preserve, and now offers walking trails, wildlife habitats, and a kayak launch overlooking an 80‑acre pond that supports over 70 bird species.
These works demonstrate how loss can stem from commercial shifts, cultural displacement, or environmental redevelopment, and how some vanished places leave behind legacies of preservation or adaptive reuse.
Community Conversation and Cultural Tourism Implications
On 16 July 2026, MoCA CT hosted a public dialogue featuring Ellen Harvey, local journalist Dan Woog, preservation advocate Ed Gerber, and audience members. Participants were encouraged to share personal recollections of missing restaurants, shops, entertainment venues, and neighbourhood landmarks. While the museum noted an enthusiastic response, no formal attendance numbers, visitor surveys, or tourism impact metrics were released, suggesting the event should be regarded primarily as a local cultural‑engagement activity rather than proof of a large tourism surge. Nonetheless, the conversation highlighted the exhibition’s broader relevance: it shows how museums can guide visitors to experience a destination through collective memory, challenging conventional notions of what constitutes an attraction. A modest bookstore, a historic gay bar, a feminist restaurant, or a former waterfront eatery can shape community identity as powerfully as any formal monument, and the project validates those stories as worthy of preservation and reflection.
Visitor Information and Practical Details
MoCA CT is located at 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, Connecticut. General admission is US$10; students and seniors are invited to contribute a suggested US$8, while members and children aged 12 or under enter free. The museum’s hours are: Thursday 12 p.m.–8 p.m.; Friday–Sunday 12 p.m.–5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Accessible entrances, internal ramps, and wheelchair‑friendly facilities are available. Visitors traveling from New York City can take the Metro‑North line to Westport station and then complete the remaining 3.8‑mile journey by taxi or ride‑hail service. A related program, Architectural Elegy: A Mourning Ritual for Lost Spaces, will take place on 23 July from 6 p.m.–7 p.m., inviting attendees to create temporary memorials through drawing, writing, and storytelling (admission US$25 general, US$15 students/seniors, free for members). Full details, including any updates, are accessible via the museum’s official exhibition page.
Conclusion and Significance for America’s 250th‑Anniversary Reflection
The Disappointed Tourist is presented within MoCA CT’s Looking for History season, a program developed in conjunction with the United States’ 250th‑anniversary commemorations. The season explores how personal, regional, and national narratives are preserved, interpreted, and occasionally contested. By situating Harvey’s installation alongside other exhibitions such as Rick Shaefer’s Colossi (on view until 15 November) and Michael Borders’ Connecticut Industry (scheduled 13 August–15 November), the museum weaves together themes of memory, migration, industrial development, barriers, national identity, and future transformation. In this context, the project does more than showcase lost places; it invites travelers and locals alike to consider how the stories of what has vanished inform present‑day community values and inspire thoughtful stewardship of the cultural and natural landscapes that remain. For those interested in heritage, storytelling, and the interplay between loss and preservation, the Westport exhibition offers a poignant, intellectually rich experience well worth the visit.