About the program
Inspired by disability culture and experience, the exhibition Don’t Mind If I Do rethinks the experience of public space in museums and galleries. Demonstrating how temporary changes in power structures create pathways of access for visitors, artists, and staff. A central conveyor belt anchors the exhibition, bringing artworks to visitors invited to sit in comfortable furniture along the belt and engage with the objects.
The exhibition is the brainchild of artist Finnegan Shannon, whose mischievous works challenge traditional museum practices and etiquette. For Don’t Mind If I Do, Shannon brings alive their longtime fantasy for an exhibition that meets their access needs. “I’m disabled,” they say, “and I need to sit. I’ve been dreaming about an exhibition where instead of having to move from artwork to artwork, I could sit somewhere comfortably and have the artwork come to me.”
Shuttling artworks by more than ten artists from across the US, the belt acts as a vehicle for cultivating a more relaxed museum-going experience. It welcomes informality, messiness, and unsettling the hierarchy of objects. Accompanying the exhibition are three solo exhibitions by artists augustine zegers, Sandie Yi, and Finnegan Shannon, who consider other dimensions of disability culture and experience.