Allison Leigh Holt, A Living Model of Hyperbolic Space, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dara Katrina Del Rosario
Communications & Partnerships Manager
415-863-1414 x103, [email protected]

SOMArts Cultural Center presents

Recoding CripTech
Opening reception, Thursday, January 23, 2020, 6–9pm
Exhibition run, Friday January 24–Tuesday, February 25, 2020


November 23, 2019, San Francisco, CA–
SOMArts proudly announces the second exhibition in the 10th Curatorial Residency season, Recoding CripTech opening Thursday evening, January 23, 2020. Curated by Vanessa Chang and Lindsey D. Felt, Recoding CripTech reimagines enshrined notions of what a body can be or do through creative technologies, and how it can move, look, or communicate. 

Working with a broad understanding of technology, from prosthetic tools to the built environment, this multidisciplinary community art exhibition explores how disability—and artists who identify as such—can redefine design, aesthetics, and the relationship between user and interface. Exhibiting artists engage with technology in manifold ways from conception to production and beyond. As the term “crip” reclaims the word for disability culture and recognizes disability as a cultural and political identity, so too do artists hack technologies to make them more accessible and inclusive. 

“In academic circles and in the disability community, there is a recognition that people with disabilities have profoundly contributed to technological advancement, but we would like to nurture these conversations in public discourse and spaces,” say Chang and Felt. “Rather, technology is often held up as something of a cure for disability, instead of an ongoing dialogue between diverse bodies, abilities, and communities. While we’ve seen art and technology shows, and disability shows, we haven’t seen an exhibition that embodies the living interaction of these communities in the Bay Area.”

By cripping the camera’s gaze, Todd Herman asks us to reevaluate how we look at others. Spanning organic and virtual prostheses, M Eifler, Chun-shan (Sandie Yi), and Jillian Crochet make visible the private, and intimate lives of disability that intertwine care and memory. Jennifer Justice reveals built space as a technological incarnation of access and privilege, inviting us to reorient our relationship to these spaces. Sara Hendren, Alice Sheppard, and TEMPT ONE recreate urban spaces and movement through unexpected mediums. Darrin Martin and Allison Leigh Holt formulate a crip eco-consciousness that situates prosthetic technologies in natural environments and landscapes, and Sonia Soberats and Pete Eckert redefine the relationship of sight, touch, perception and the image.

Together, these artists inscribe new movements and navigations through private, public, virtual, and natural spaces and places. 

“We’d like our audiences to reflect on and question for whom technologies and spaces are built, and to whom they deny access. By engaging a variety of senses in their interactions with museum spaces and artworks, we hope for them to understand how certain bodies have been privileged over others,” shares Chang and Felt. 

Opening with a free, all ages reception on Thursday, January 23, 6–9pm, the evening program features an artist panel discussion and Q&A, led by disability scholar and UC Berkeley professor Karen Nakamura featuring disability activist and Disability Visibility host, Alice Wong.

Berkeley professor of English and disability studies scholar Georgina Kleege will guide participants throughout the exhibition with tactile and sensory aesthetic experiences with Tactile Explorations on Thursday, February 6, 6–9pm. 

Recoding CripTech closes with Neurodivergent Media Workshop Thursday, February 20, 6–9pm facilitated by exhibiting artist and educator  Allison Leigh Holt. Together, participants will develop scripts, learn storyboarding techniques, and stage scenes.  

RECODING CRIPTECH
Exhibiting Artists
Jillian Crochet
Pete Eckert 
M Eifler aka BlinkPopShift & Steve Sedlmayr
Sara Hendren
Todd Herman
Allison Leigh Holt
Jennifer Justice
Darrin Martin
TEMPT ONE
Sonia Soberats 
Chun-shan (Sandie) Yi 
Alice Sheppard, in collaboration with Katherine Helen Fisher, Shimmy Boyle, Laurel Lawson, Lisa Niedermeyer, and Missy Mazzoli
Yevgeniya Zastavker, and Katie Butler, Daniel Daugherty, Duncan Hall, Andrew Holmes, Erica Lee, Scott Mackinlay, Apurva Raman, March Saper, Alexander Scott, Kimberly Winter, Rachel Yang, Jingyi Xu, with support from Olin College.

Curators
Vanessa Chang
Lindsey D. Felt

CALENDAR LISTINGS
Public programs are free and all ages unless otherwise stated

Recoding CripTech
Curated by Vanessa Chang and Lindsey D. Felt
Friday, January 24–Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Opening Reception Artist Panel & Discussion
Thursday, January 23, 6–9pm
Artist panel discussion and Q&A, led by disability scholar and UC Berkeley professor Karen Nakamura and featuring disability activist and Disability Visibility host, Alice Wong, performer and producer Claudia Alick, and exhibiting artists Darrin Martin and M Eifler aka BlinkPopShift. The panel will be recorded and uploaded to Wong’s podcast. 

To learn more visit somarts.org/events/recodingcriptechopening

Tactile Explorations
Thursday, February 6, 6–9pm
Led by disability studies scholar Georgina Kleege, participants will explore the exhibition through tactile and sensory aesthetic experiences. This program is limited to 12 participants, Eventbrite link and wait list to follow.

To learn more visit somarts.org/events/tactileexplorations

Neurodivergent Media Workshop
Thursday, February 20, 6–9pm

Participants join exhibiting artist and educator Allison Leigh Holt to develop develop scripts, learn storyboarding techniques, and stage scenes. This workshop is limited to 10 participants, Eventbrite link to follow.

To learn more visit somarts.org/events/neurodivergent

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ABOUT SOMARTS CULTURAL CENTER
SOMArts Cultural Center, founded in 1979, cultivates access to the arts within the Bay Area by collaborating with community-focused artists and organizations. Together, we engage the power of the arts to provoke just and fair inclusion, cultural respect and civic participation.

SOMArts plays a vital role in the arts ecosystem by helping activate the arts citywide. We do this by providing space and production support for non-profit events, as well as fairs and festivals throughout the Bay Area, and offering a robust program of art exhibitions, classes, events and performances that are affordable and accessible to all. SOMArts’ exhibition programs receive critical support from the San Francisco Arts Commission and The San Francisco Foundation, and are sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts.

SOMArts is located at 934 Brannan Street—between 8th and 9th—within 2 blocks of 101, I-80, Muni lines and bike paths.

For public information call 415-863-1414 or visit somarts.org. Stay connected by following us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

RECODING CRIPTECH SPONSORS 
Recoding CripTech is made possible with the generous support of California Humanities for All Grant, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Wattis Foundation, Verizon Media, and Fleishhacker Foundation 

Recoding CripTech Sponsors

RECODING CRIPTECH PARTNERS 
Thank you to Recoding CripTech community partners Leonardo/the International Society for Arts, Sciences and Technology (Leonardo/ISAST), CODAME Art + Tech, Bay Area Arts Access Collective (BAAAC), and Not Impossible. 

Recoding CripTech community partners

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