Cripping Curating

Nina Wiedemeyer: Concerning inclusive curating, I struggle with two challenges. First, the poor infrastructure. I still often think that accessible infrastructure is an on-top labour and an extra cost, e.g. having three translators involved in a meeting. Also, I still don’t plan all my projects and exhibitions accessibly from scratch. I am ashamed of this because it is a human right to have Access and I know about the power of Diversity.

Second, I take care of a part of a huge art collection. Beyond informing about it, I wish to provide a space for art production and encounter. Being part of UNBOUND, a residency programme for artists with and without disabilities therefore is a perfect match for us. Which struggles did you face in setting up this programme?

Kirstin Broussard: When it comes to Access, particularly for artists with disabilities, so-called gate keeping voices are a huge problem. These voices insist on a narrative about you that mitigates you based on the way you look, or on their own expectations.

Access is a human right but we face a massive lack of Access to culture. However, we can’t cover all aspects that need to be addressed with only one project. For UNBOUND we decided to focus on creating a space for artists with disabilities to present themselves as artists. The aim is to address the barriers to creativity and to provide a platform for exchange among artists with and without disabilities working in a variety of disciplines.

It was important to us to exhibit their works in a mainstream art space as a way to expose the common invisibility and lack of representation of disabled artists. Finding that space, getting funding for both the residency and exhibition – that was very hard and continues to be a struggle. The infrastructure is just not all the way there. Even if you find an accessible space, the elevator at the nearest subway station might be broken as just one of many examples!

Kate Brehme: I agree. Measures, that help provide Access to working in the arts, can cost a lot of money, but in comparison to what? Actually, it’s a question of an art institution’s priority. One could publish a very expensive and academic catalogue for every exhibition, or use that money to enable more people to see the exhibitions in the first place.

Money is not the only issue when it comes to providing good Access to the arts. Granting time, asking what people actually need, instead of assuming what they don’t or do need, and being prepared to make adjustments to what is normally done is as important in order to include those most marginalised. We initiated the UNBOUND programme to incentivise institutions to take on their responsibility. It is on them to make their facilities more accessible and offer much needed spaces for artists with disabilities to develop and to thrive.

Nina: You describe two interesting shifts in curating: Don’t compare and don’t let money distract you. These shifts help introduce new concepts of art production and a coevolution of art and Access. Moreover, they foster innovation, namely the concepts of re-connecting and un-learning. Working with Berlinklusion and your network allowed me to focus my curating more on questions like how to make learning and asking questions in exhibitions as beautiful, accessible and interesting as artworks themselves. Finding works that are both art and a space for learning and prompting questions would be even better. Critical thinking and curiosity are qualities we need to solve the huge problems that humankind and society are facing today. Is Disability a force – might it open up a space for re-thinking and innovation?

Kate: Absolutely! Disability has been defined in many different ways throughout history. For example, the medical definition of Disability categorizes people. The charitable definition is an oppressive framing of disabled people as victims. However, our work is based on a socio-cultural model, which acknowledges how society disables people with different bodies and minds. In this way, we can read Disability as a strength. Being disabled makes you incredibly resilient and inherently creative!

Kirstin: I see Disability as a creative force and, together with Access, as an engine for generating transformative art, knowledge and engagement. I like the word “Compound” as a metaphor:  we are all compound, a mix of stories, history, culture, perception, physical impulses and sensations. We are a product of our environment filtered through our bodies, our lived experience. Our bodies offer us multiple perspectives on our surroundings and each of us experiences the world differently. Hence, every single person is a valuable source.

Nina: Two years ago, we started our cooperation by co-curating the exhibition “norm und form” at the temporary Bauhaus-Archiv. Back then, I learnt that Accessibility has to provide individual solutions and a variety of “languages” for individual needs. How do you fit UBOUND in a world of norms, forms and tick-boxes?

Kirstin: We try to meet the artists where they are at, we weave Access into the structure of the residency and make Accessibility a continuous topic. We tried to offer an open space for the artists to reflect on their own and others’ needs. Creating the exhibition together with the artists was a paramount aspect of this process as well as workshopping creative ways to transmit their art to a broad audience. Making the process as communal as possible was another major feature of our approach.

Kate: Exactly. In essence, it is a rejection of the world of norms, forms and tick-boxes! The art sector is lacking the infrastructure and knowledge about accessible art projects such as UNBOUND. We had to find workarounds to build the project. Take our funding: we financed the project through the cultural programme of a major sporting event, rather than through a typical arts funder. That speaks volumes.

Nina: Speaking of Access, some curators may think that guiding strips for blind people on the floor and touchable objects ruin the show’s aesthetic set-up. Where does this impulse come from? Can Accessibility be beautiful?

Kirstin: At the Berlinische Galerie (Museum for Modern Art in Berlin, red.), you find beautiful tactile models! Perhaps it stems from a lack of imagination, the idea that Access is something purely technical and just an afterthought of exhibition planning. It irritates me. I would ask, who are cultural institutions for? What is their purpose? I like to think of audience and artwork as a changing network where each side feeds the other leading to a deeper understanding of a work of art. In this sense, Accessibility is indeed beautiful if it allows the back and forth flow of information, thought, knowledge and creativity. As an artist, I want nothing more than exactly that.

Kate: And for me, as a curator, thinking about Access alongside exhibition making is one of the most challenging and creative things you can do.

Nina: How did the artists in the UNBOUND programme inform and transform your curating?

Kate: Good question! I’m always so in awe of an artists’ ability to take a single idea in completely unexpected directions. Being in a position to accompany them as they go through this process is always an informative and transformative experience for me. Kirstin and I loved to see how the group found ways to work collectively. But I also think each one them introduced us to new ways of thinking and communicating through a variety of methods and materials, and most importantly, brought their unique experiences as individual human beings into the artworks they created.

UNBOUND is a residency programme initiated by Berlinklusion. The six participating artists will present their works in the exhibition „The Space Between“ at CLB Berlin from 10 June to 16 July 2023.

Kirstin Broussard is a visual artist, curator (co-curator of „The Space Between“) arts educator and co-founder of Berlinklusion, together with Kate Brehme, Dirk Sorge and Jovana Komnenic.

Kate Brehme is an independent curator (co-curator of „The Space Between“), arts educator and co-founder of Berlinklusion, together with Kirstin, Dirk Sorge and Jovana Komnenic.

Nina Wiedemeyer is a curator at the Bauhaus-Archiv and responsible for the project space the temporary bauhaus archiv. In her work, she deals with questions Diversity and Inclusion, which led, among other things, to the collaboration with Berlinklusion.