a sculpture representing the hull of a ship sits on a green raised based
22 September 24

Disabled Curator : Accessible Curating in a care based practice

Aidan Moesby’s curatorial practice explores deep interconnectedness through a lens of disability and intersectionality. Access and inclusion are at the heart of his care-based practice including Disability and mainstream representation across digital and physical platforms.

Towards New Worlds – MIMA July 18 – Feb 09 2025

In July a major new show opened at MIMA. It runs until February 09 2025. It features the work of 15 Disabled, Neurodivergent, D/deaf artists.

The following is taken from MIMA’s website

See a review here

Towards New Worlds is a large-scale exhibition sharing fifteen artists’ experiences of seeing, hearing, feeling and sensing the contemporary world. The exhibition explores a rich variety of human perceptions and sensory experiences through works of art, which make connections between the artists’ internal worlds and their external environments. The artworks consider issues in the contemporary world, including justice, ecological consciousness, connectivity and care.

a sculpture representing the hull of a ship sits on a green raised based

Each of the artists involved is disabled, D/deaf and/or neurodiverse. The artists interpret their own perspectives, offering new insights for those encountering their work while recognising that we can never fully inhabit someone else’s experience.

The exhibition offers a rich sensory environment, with moments of quiet reflection and spaces for interaction and relaxation. Through varied production processes, including drawing, photography, installation, video and interactive sensory pieces, the artists call attention to many ways of experiencing and navigating the world.

The exhibition features Richard Butchins, Leah Clements, Joanne Coates, Małgorzata Dawidek, Colin Hambrook, Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen, Seo Hye Lee, Molly Martin, Louise McLachlan, Aaron McPeake, Sam Metz, Jade de Montserrat, Carrie Ravenscroft, Christopher Samuel and RA Walden.

Towards New Worlds is curated with curator, artist and cultural activist Aidan Moesby. Moesby has collaborated with MIMA to share his deep research and extensive experience championing disability, care and access.

 

Aidan Moesby worked as Associate Curator with MIMA in 2019-20 as part of the Future Curators programme, a national network supporting the development of disabled, D/deaf and neurodiverse curators. MIMA is a founding member of Future Curators and has a longstanding commitment to supporting and nurturing disabled, D/deaf and neurodiverse artists and curators.

The exhibition is accompanied by a public programme of research and engagement events. A series of events and digital outcomes will be platformed in association with Disability Arts Online.

‘Our mutual entwinement must be careful, spacious and supple, with no single knot tied too tight. In this macrame of loving design, we might find the wisdom, purpose and strength we need, to weave new worlds.’ Radical Intimacy, Sophie K. Rosa

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22 September 24

Care-Based Practice

A vitrine with lidded specimen jars conontaing natural objects in preserving liquid.

 

Towards New Worlds : A care based practice

As part of the research for Towards New Worlds I was awarded an Arts Council England grant to research disabled artists practice, the wider field and some of the issues which they face. I say they, although I am also a disabled artist so include myself in this also. However in this context I was looking through the lens of a curator.

I visited studios, kitchens, exhibitions, galleries, websites, had telephone and zoom calls, researched online databases and I asked friends and colleagues for tips where to find disabled artists. There are numerous visible and invisible systemic barriers which impact on the arts ecology of disabled artists, not to mention economics, health and other intersectional factors which impact on the viability and sustainability of those who practice.

There was a long process involved from grant award to going to MIMA with a proposal and then distilling a long list of potential artists to the final selection. My methodology was a combination of whether the art spoke to me, was critically robust, was exploring some of things I am interested in and how it responds to contemporary times.

During the whole process of exhibition making, from the first contacts with the selected artists to the opening and now beyond, the embedding of care was paramount. Initially this was setting up systems whereby we can communicate effectively with all the artists, that we can return to conversations because the artists have agency and they were an active part of the exhibition rather than it ‘happening’ to them. Not every artist wants to communicate in the same way and even within shared methods there are preferences. This care continues now with the public programme. It was present at the opening with quiet covid safe opening and restricted numbers to the traditional opening with the usual food, drinks, dj, crowds.

Working with MIMA was a great fit for my practice. Having been the Future Curators Programme disabled curator in residence at MIMA I knew they are committed to continual systemic change and working in an authentic manner with disability, difference, and care. This approach does not necessarily cost a lot of extra money but it does require time, commitment and awareness.

 

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