See & Do

Early career research symposium

Sensory Innovations and Creativity in the Arts

Wednesday 27 November 2024

10:30–18:00

Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

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Part of Beyond the Visual

A woman is raising her hand to touch metal sculptures hanging from the ceiling. There are seven of them, each a vertical slice cut from a bell.

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Book your free ticket

Join us to explore ideas of ‘disability gain’ and ‘blindness gain’ in the arts. This Early Career Symposium will investigate how an expanded approach to the senses can be creatively explored across different art forms.

The day will feature cross-disciplinary contributions from practising artists, curators, writers and historians in three themed panels on Words, Situations and Haptics.

The symposium expands on ideas of ‘disability gain’ and ‘blindness gain’ in the arts, subjects which have been researched in recent years by authors including Rosemary Garland-Thomson, Georgina Kleege and Hannah Thompson. We’ll explore how sensory innovations across a range of practices and media can generate inclusive and accessible experiences of the arts that challenge ocularcentric and ableist conventions.

This symposium is part of a three-year research project, Beyond the Visual: Blindness and Expanded Sculpture. The project, a collaboration between Henry Moore Institute, University of the Arts London and Shape Arts, is the recipient of the inaugural Arts and Humanities Research Council Exhibition Fund. The project will culminate with a landmark exhibition, Beyond the Visual, which opens at Henry Moore Institute on 28 November 2025, foregrounding work by blind and partially blind artists.

Main image: Fayen d’Evie, From Dust to Dust: Prologue 2018
A hybrid artist-curatorial project, inviting trans-sensory conversation, with contributions from Bryan Phillips, Andy Slater, Janaleen Wolfe, Will Kollmorgen, Aaron McPeake, Pippa Samaya, and Adam Leslie. Castlemaine Gaol, Dja Dja Wurrung Country.

Tickets

Tickets to this event are free, and can be booked online via Eventbrite.

Book your free ticket

Programme

Coffee and Registration

10:30
Meet on the ground floor for refreshments

Introduction to symposium and its themes

11:00
Taking place in the Seminar Room in the basement

Beyond the Visual research project

11:10
Presented by Dr Aaron McPeake (University of the Arts London), Dr Clare O’Dowd (Henry Moore Institute) and Professor Ken Wilder (University of the Arts London)

Session One: Words

11:30
Chaired by Dr Clare O’Dowd

‘Ekphrastic Inquiry as Cultural Democracy: Museum Visitors Engaging with Art through Creative Collaboration’
Rachel Carney, Cardiff University

‘Creative Ways of Accessing and Responding to Rural Landscapes, and Other Stories’
Ayesha Chouglay, writer and artist

‘Ensemble: audio description as art form’
Stephanie Farmer, Notting Hill & Ealing Girls’ School; Hettie James, The de Laszlo Archive Trust; and Joseph Rizzo Naudi, Royal Holloway, University of London

Lunch (provided)

13:00
Served in The Studio on the second floor

Session Two: Situations

14:00
Chaired by Dr Aaron McPeake

‘The languages of disability: Audrey Barker’s multi-sensory installations’
Gill Crawshaw, independent curator

‘Behold! (a show about touch); experiments in multi-sensory mediation’
Sasha Galitzine, independent curator

‘Nose ahead – sensorial inclusivity and the ephemeral of olfactory sculptures’
Lara Schumacher, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf

Break

15:30

Session Three: Haptics

16:00
Chaired by Professor Ken Wilder

‘Anamnesis: The Re-Membered Body’
David Johnson, artist/PhD candidate Royal College of Art

‘Challenging visual-centric interpretations of sculpture in UK Copyright Law’
Annaliese Wren, University of Bristol Law School

‘Haptic Technology and the Listening Body’
Tom White, artist

Wine Reception

17:30
Served in The Studio on the second floor

Accessibility

The main part of the symposium takes place in our seminar room on the basement floor of the building. Lunch and drinks after the event will be served in The Studio on the second floor. All floors can be reached by lift.

We want to make sure this event is open to the widest possible audience. If you have any questions, or suggestions on how we can improve access, please contact us: institute@henry-moore.org

More accessibility information

Step-free entrance

We have an accessible entrance via lift (doors 100cm wide) on Cookridge Street, bringing you onto the ground floor of the building.

Internal lift

There is an internal passenger lift (doors 72cm wide) to all floors of the building.

Induction loops

There are induction loops at the main reception desk, library reception and in the seminar room.

There is a portable induction loop available for visitors to use in the galleries and in The Studio (please ask at reception).

Toilets

Outside the seminar room on the basement level we have three gender-neutral superloos (self-contained cubicles with a toilet and sink).

Additionally, we have one gender-neutral, accessible superloo, and one superloo with baby changing facilities.

The Studio has its own toilet facilities, including one fully accessible superloo and two additional gender-neutral superloos.

Changing Places toilet

The closest Changing Places toilets to us are:

Leeds City Museum (approximately 350m away from us over a mostly flat route)
The Core Shopping Centre (approximately 250m away on a route with a slight upward incline)

Guide dogs

Guide dogs, hearing dogs and other badged assistance dogs are welcome in our galleries and at this event.

The nearest green space is Park Square.

Beyond the Visual: Blindness and Expanded Sculpture Research Season

A splayed hand touching a bronze plate with lines of single black letters recessed into it. The letters are from a Snellen eye test chart and reduce in size from top to bottom.

Beyond the Visual: Blindness and Expanded Sculpture

Research Season
Autumn 2024 – Spring 2025

This Research Season explores engagements with contemporary sculpture using senses other than sight, challenging the dominance of sight in the making and appreciation of art.

Aiming to rethink the under-representation of blind and partially blind arts practitioners, we’ll investigate the relationship between artworks and audiences, the varied ways in which sculpture can be experienced, and what is gained from creative practices that emphasise a broader approach to sensory experience.

Cumulative Entanglement