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.

Programme:

10:30
Meet on the ground floor for refreshments
Coffee and Registration

11:00
Taking place in the Seminar Room in the basement
Introduction to symposium and its themes

11:10
Beyond the Visual research project
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

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

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

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

13:00
Lunch (provided)
Served in The Studio on the second floor

14:00
Session Two: Situations
Chaired by Dr Aaron McPeake

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

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

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

15:30
Break

16:00
Session Three: Haptics
Chaired by Professor Ken Wilder

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

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

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

17:30
Wine Reception
Served in The Studio on the second floor

Venue: The Henry Moore Institute, The Headrow, Leeds LS1 3AH.
Please contact for questions: Kirstie.gregoryhenry-moore.org
There are no limitations.