Jan. 15 Disability Justice as a New Aesthetic — When Access Becomes Art?, Mira Thompson
When considering accessibility in the arts, the primary focus often centers on making artworks and spaces more approachable for a broader audience. This typically involves simplifying or enhancing the ease with which art can be understood. But what if accessibility were framed not as a process of simplification, but as one of expansion? Building added depth, rather than reducing them. From the perspective of Disability Justice, this approach fosters a deeper understanding of the possibilities that art can offer. In her talk, singer and researcher Mira Thompson will share critical insights into a Disability Justice centered perspective on the arts, aesthetics, and activism, often stemming from (unseen) histories and movements started by disabled people.
Mira Thompson (Amsterdam, 1993) is a singer, songwriter and performer. Informed by the tradition of vocal jazz, she is drawn to narrative song and strong poetic and visual elements within music. During her time at HKU Utrecht Conservatory, she developed a fascination for the different ways in which the voice can function as an embodied instrument. Whether written, spoken or sung, Mira wields language to evoke deep and buried feelings with an earnest yet witty approach. In 2019 she released her first EP Festina Lente. Since 2008 she has performed nationally at Mozaïek Theater, Frascati, Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons, among others, and has toured in Germany and France.
Within her own artistic practice or that of others, cross-disciplinary collaboration is at the heart of Mira’s work. She writes on subjects of disability, language and activism to contemplate a more accessible world, and has published, both print and digital, in Metropolis M, Parool, Change Now, International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, and One World. Invested in embodied learning and disability justice, Mira brings into question notions of accessibility and its universality through lectures, workshops and consultancy to organizations, tutors, and students. In addition to providing private singing lessons, she teaches and researches for Amsterdam University of the Arts: Amsterdam School for Theatre and Dance, and DAS Graduate School. Mira is a member of Feminists Against Ableism. She also does access work including voice narration, image descriptions, live captions and transcription.