Outside Exhibition // “Don’t mind if I do” at Sacramento State University

organized by Lauren Leving with Finnegan Shannon

Opening Reception

Thursday, September 12, 5 – 8 pm

In Conversation

Thursday, September 12, 4 – 5:30 pm

Don’t mind if I do is an experiment in more deeply collaborative exhibition-making, demonstrating how even temporary changes in power structures create pathways of access for visitors, artists, and staff.

Grounded in a longtime fantasy of artist Finnegan Shannon – an idea of an exhibition setup that would lavishly meet their access needs – this project developed around a conveyor belt. Embraced for its efficiency and mechanized transport of goods (even sushi), this equipment is reappropriated here as a vehicle for cultivating a more relaxed museum-going experience. The conveyor belt brings artwork to audience members, who are invited to sit on comfortable furniture and engage with a parade of objects through any combination of touch, sight, and sound.

Sharing the work of eleven artists who have influenced Shannon’s practice, Don’t mind if I do destabilizes rigid ableist and exclusionary museum “best practices” like sparse seating, untouchable objects, dense wall labels, and guards who protect rather than invite engagement. It is a project built upon a framework of flexibility. By welcoming glitches, inviting informality and messiness, and unsettling the hierarchy of objects, Don’t mind if I do prioritizes people over artwork and makes more room for us to show up as our full selves.

Don’t mind if I do is organized by artist Finnegan Shannon and curator Lauren Leving. The project originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland with generous support provided by the Ford Foundation.