This talk is based on Amanda Cachia's forthcoming monograph, The Agency of Access (2024), methodology for curating art exhibitions using a multi-sensorial approach. She argues that as contemporary disabled artists move away from representations of disability, they create an art of access, or access aesthetics, through works that center translation, sensory expansion, touch, and movement for audiences and offer an experience of “being with” disability. Showcasing artwork by contemporary disabled artists Corban Walker, Christine Sun Kim, and Carmen Papalia, among others, The Agency of Access inscribes contemporary disability art in the broad canon of contemporary art, where the artistic past is regarded differently. These artists make bold and compelling statements about interdependency, care, and the ways in which our environment affects disabled, ill, and immunocompromised bodies.

Speaker

Amanda Cachia has an established career profile as a curator, consultant, writer, and art historian who specializes in disability art activism across intersectional axes of difference, including gender, race, and sexuality. She is the incoming tenure-track Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of the MA in Arts Leadership Graduate Program at the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts at the University of Houston, where she will also serve the Graduate Certificate in Museum and Gallery Management, and the Graduate Certificate in Arts and Health.

This event is free and open to the public. For non-Columbia affiliates and those who wish to attend over Zoom, registration is required by October 15. Instructions for accessing campus and/or a Zoom link will be sent prior to the event.

The organizers of this talk are committed to accessibility and inclusivity. If you require disability accommodations, please contact Rachel Adams. A map of campus accessibility can be found at https://visit.columbia.edu/content/maps-and-directions-update.