@Tanglefoot
2019

The impact of the Voices exhibition is connected to its ability to offer narratives of disability that are rarely heard. The stories of powerful self-advocates are the heartbeat of this immersive exhibition and act as an invitation to those who are on their own journey of self-discovery about what it means to be disabled.

DisArt and its collaborators presented Voices, a multimedia exhibition that immersed visitors in personal stories of alienation and belonging as told by members of the disablity community in Michigan.

The exhibition began in the interior of the Tanglefoot building and continued outside onto Critical Infrastructure, which is an accessible amphitheater created by Paul Amenta and Ted Lott in collaboration with DisArt.

The “voices” of the disability community were presented in both audio and captioning formats and served as the core of the exhibition. Additionally, DisArt partnered with local artists to create art in response to the individual and collective stories. Photographs were on display for the duration of the exhibition, whereas, stage performances only took place at designated times on both Saturday and Sunday.

While visiting the exhibition guests were invited to record their own story during a personal interview with a DisArt volunteer. Visitors were encouraged to share their reactions to the exhibition as well as personal experiences of alienation and belonging. Interviews took place in a large sound studio located inside the Tanglefoot building.

The event was free and all (regardless of disability status, cultural background, race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, ….) were encouraged to attend and record their story.

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Visual Artists
Elise Kutt
Hwa-Jeen Na
Kaitlin Grant

Grand Rapids Ballet: Solo Performances
Gretchen Steimle
Isaac Aoki
Matt Wenckowski
Nigel Tau

Mini Nifty: Piano
Lizzie Dunn
Tyler Zahnke

Ritsu Katsumata: Electric Violin

Production Support
Little Space Studio
KBOgroup