Disability-First: Museums & Exhibition Design for Disabled Audiences
Session will present: On locationAffiliated Society or Committee Name: Committee on Diversity Practices
This panels seeks to showcase exhibition case studies for how the global museum is embracing disability and diversity as a key part of its offerings, where disabled audiences are considered first and foremost as part of the museum’s overhaul in exhibition design strategies. Since COVID-19, museums have begun to demonstrate more leadership by inviting and inserting contemporary disability art into its programming, its collections, its policies and its hiring practices. While this is encouraging, the next necessary and timely step is to think about how disabled audiences can also be centered in the development and display of exhibitions, where access aesthetics and the voice of the contemporary disabled artist play a critical role in reshaping the aesthetic foundation that underpins the museum. Some of these strategies might include the implementation of crip institutional critique, access aesthetics, the plain language movement, technology including artificial intelligence, and architectural elements including lighting, ramps, benches and other furniture. This panel is excited to learn from curators, artists, art historians, educators and others who have experience to share in innovative display strategies and museum design that can be used as templates and tools for how the museum can moved forward as a space that challenges the image-centric culture of our arts and cultural spaces.
Keywords:
Topics: Disability
Topics: Museum Studies
Topics: Museum Education
Topics: Exhibitions
Topics: Design
Chairs:
Amanda Cachia, Arizona State University
and
Charles Eppley, Arizona State University
Abstract Submissions Closed
