Accessibility As Creative Practice (DM-GY 9103 O)

How does an artist develop an accessible creative practice?

In this studio-based course, inspired by Patricia Kalidonis’ “Accessibility as a Creative Practice” and Emily Watlington’s “The Radical Accessibility of Video Art (for Hearing People)” we will focus on creative expression and accessibility.

Working across many sensory modalities, students will create original artworks and then re-imagine and re-create the work in multiple forms, expanding their creative practice, deepening their understanding of the chosen subject or theme, and broadening the audience for their work.

In this class we will center accessibility as a way to inform an iterative, generative creative practice. We will push the boundaries of each sensory modality, exploring their affordances and limitations. For example, students might create a tactile object then remake it as an audio description, a captioned video, and a non-verbal sound piece. Disabled artists and members of the disability arts community will be invited as guest lecturers and critics. We will survey artists working across access modalities and read texts on Disability Arts Activism, disability-centered art praxis, and creative access.

While not required, we recommend students have an existing creative practice in analog or digital media such as (but not limited to) virtual environments, photo, film/video, sculpture, drawing/painting, physical computing, or textiles.