DISABILITY, DEAFHOOD, ACCESS!

December 1 - December 14, 2018

For the second 4^TH SPACE program, we opened our doors to projects that challenge commonly held conceptions and propose new ways of considering disability, deafness and how we make our cities and our universities more accessible. Some of the projects displayed were developed for the Vibe Symposium 2018 that takes place at Concordia, while others revisited Enable Montreal, a project that ran from March to June 2018. Through all of these works, artists, activists, and academics offered differing perspectives on deaf and disability arts, as well as how to develop concrete solutions to accessibility barriers.

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TransCommunicator by David Bobier

In this project, two ‘faux’ projection/sound instruments are mounted on individual frames on the wall. By puncturing holes in a paper score, David created a ‘negative’ braille transcript that transforms into modes of sound, vibration and visualization with the use of a music box, ‘punchable’ music score strips, LED lights and magnifiers.

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TransCommunicator by David Bobier

Progression by Salima Punjani

This work is an interactive multi-sensory installation reflecting narratives of people living with multiple sclerosis fused with biodata and MRI scans. From dealing with cognitive decline and unpredictability to navigating the dating world, each participant had agency over their story and chose how they would like to be seen.

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Progression by Salima Punjani

Opening of the Vibration program

Vibrations is a collaboration between VibraFusionLab (London, Ontario), Together! 2012 CIC (East London, UK), and the Participatory Media cluster of Milieux: Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology. These projects and experimental prototypes explore our sensory relationship to the world through vibrations and tactility. A key question is how research creation can challenge ableism (discrimination against disabled people) and audism (discrimination against Deaf people).

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Opening of the Vibration program

Healing House by Darian Goldin Stahl

With a structure made from a hospital gown dipped in beeswax, sonic elements reminiscent of an MRI machine, and added fragrance, this work merges the medical and domestic realms to better reflect what it is like to live with chronic illness.

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Healing House by Darian Goldin Stahl

Our Vibrating Hands by Véro Leduc, Pamela Witcher, Daz Saunders, and Hodan Youssouf

A research-creation project bringing together Quebec deaf artists of various origins, this work deconstructs audism in the context of music. The videos featuring music interpreted in sign language are coupled with a vibratory track to make it possible to produce a resonance between the mechanical rhythms and the visual rhythms of the signed music.

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Our Vibrating Hands by Véro Leduc, Pamela Witcher, Daz Saunders, and Hodan Youssouf

Hemo-resonance #1 by Samuel Thulin

This work is the first in an on-going series of artworks in which Samuel explores data representation and the quantified self in relation to type 1 diabetes. The work turns my blood glucose readings and insulin injection amounts from a 100 day period into resonances for visitors to feel through interactions with vibrational media.

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