Brooklyn-based disabled artist Finnegan Shannon's traveling exhibition "Don't mind if I do" is on view at the Smith College Museum of Art (SCMA) in Northampton through June 28. The show features a conveyor belt that brings interactive artworks to seated visitors, challenging traditional museum layouts that require standing and walking. Shannon collaborated with curator Lauren Leving and technical director Peter Reese to create the experience, which includes works by Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Pelenakeke Brown, Sky Cubacub, Emilie L. Gossiaux, Felicia Griffin, Joselia Rebekah Hughes, and Jeff Kasper. The exhibition has previously toured to moCa Cleveland, California State University Sacramento, and the University of Illinois Chicago.
The exhibition matters because it reimagines museum accessibility from the ground up, centering disabled visitors' needs rather than treating access as an afterthought. By literally bringing art to people who cannot easily navigate galleries, Shannon's work critiques ableist assumptions embedded in art institutions and offers a practical model for inclusive exhibition design. The show's success across multiple venues suggests growing institutional willingness to rethink how art is experienced, potentially influencing future curatorial practices.