Reading Group: On Body Constructs with Aimi Hamraie

In conjunction with the installation Body Constructs, this reading group will be led by designer, researcher, and disability justice organizer Aimi Hamraie. We will consider new perspectives and think together through close reading of short texts with the goal of opening new ways of thinking about the creative tensions between identity, disability, access, race, and modern architecture. No prior preparation or background is necessary to participate. We will read texts together during the session and you will receive access to full texts after the session. This program is free, open to all, requires preregistration, and takes place online via Zoom.

This session is part of our ongoing Reading Group series. Our intention is to create space for people to gather to consider a range of perspectives and think critically through a guided reading of key texts that can help illuminate new ways of looking at artwork on view in MoMA’s galleries. Our priority is to create a space that is comfortable enough for participants to take risks with their thinking and possibly find a sense of fellowship, community, and camaraderie with the facilitator and their fellow readers.

Facilitator

Aimi Hamraie directs the Critical Design Lab, a multidisciplinary and international collaborative of disabled artists, designers, and design researchers. They are a 2022 United States Artists Fellow and host of the Contra* podcast on disability design justice. With Cassandra Hartblay and Jarah Moesch, Hamraie co-curated #CripRitual, a multi-site exhibition of work by 25 disabled artists at the Tangled Arts and Disability and Doris McCarthy Galleries in Toronto. Hamraie’s creative practice spans social practice and design (wood, leather, textiles, architecture, and landscapes). Their intellectual and creative work is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Smithsonian Institution, the Mellon Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Arts, and the National Humanities Alliance.

Registration
Register for this online Reading Group on Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Accessibility

 
There will be verbal descriptions for all images. A PDF of the presentation is available in advance upon request. Live CART captioning will be available. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation is available for public programs upon request with two weeks’ advance notice.