The experimental format of inclusive discussion club meetings will allow visually impaired and blind visitors to look differently at the exhibition of works of contemporary artists by focusing on their sensory experience and imagination.
Using tactile sensations and verbal descriptions, participants of the inclusive discussion club will get acquainted with a kaleidoscope of works, documentation, and performances by contemporary artists of different generations currently on display at the exhibition Spirit Labor: Duration, Difficulty, and Affect.
Conceptually, the exhibition is constructed around temporality, the artists’ psychic and emotional labor, and examines the multilayered aspect of time in art. Can we reflect on time through conceptual and radical bodily practices? What role does the artist's state of mind play in this discourse? How does their mental and physical labor of overcoming themselves generate affect?
Together with the moderators, participants will discuss in detail the works of artists from Southeast and Central Asia, the Caucasus, Central and Eastern Europe, involving different forms of perception and exploring their own feelings.
Each event in the series of discussions is dedicated to a specific topic and examines artworks related to it. Visitors will also have an opportunity to try audio descriptions—verbal descriptions of the visual component of pieces, allowing them to grasp the nuances that often elude the viewer’s attention.
It is important that all participants are open to new experiences and are willing to share their thoughts and feelings with others.
The discussion is moderated by cultural scholar and mediator Maria Galkina and her blind co-host Nadezhda Vasilenko.
The audio descriptions were prepared by Sofia Lukyanova, Garage Inclusive Programs manager.
