Access Information

How We Understand Access

Access is a creative practice that goes beyond mere compliance. Recognizing the disabled community is not homogenous and our needs are not identical or static, access requires communication and collaboration. Experiments in Art, Access & Technology(E.A.A.T.) embraces access—and its frictions—as necessary interventions and learning opportunities. Access is process and progress, not perfection. Access is not limited by physical boundaries; it extends remotely and across space and time. Artists and curators can feel the weight when access fails occur, even as we continue to critically engage in the work of access informed by our predecessors. This access is art. And art is never enough.

E.A.A.T. affords multiple avenues of aesthetic experience that bridge physical and virtual spaces. Exhibiting artists have built their installations as experiments in creative access, exploring visual, audial, tactile and haptic registers. Visual descriptions, verbal descriptions, and sonic descriptions created by the artists, curators, or other collaborators are available on this site and through QR codes in the gallery. Everything that is documented here was designed into the exhibition.

Gallery Accessibility & Wayfinding

The Beall Center for Art + Technology’s gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm to 6pm.

The gallery has a wheelchair accessible ramp. During the gallery’s open hours, the doors are propped open. Please reference this map that highlights all ADA paths on campus. There are no restrooms inside the gallery. The nearest accessible restrooms are located adjacent to the gallery in Winifred Smith Hall 187 and the Drama Building 140.

There are three parking locations nearby that offer accessible parking for folks visiting the Beall Center for Art + Technology. The service lot located directly behind Beall offers the closest accessible parking. In the event the lot is full, please use either the Mesa Parking Structure (MPS) or Student Center Parking Structure (SCPS). 

The Beall Center is the large red rectangular-shaped building at the top of the hill. There are two ways to enter the building from the main entrance: by stairs or by a ramp that hugs the side of the building. There is a cafe called The Green Room at the gallery’s rear with outdoor shaded seating.

The gallery space will always be staffed by staff members or student docents. They are available to direct visitors to works of interest, provide additional information or assistance with the exhibition’s interactive elements, or answer other gallery or exhibition related inquiries.

For visitors with noise sensitivities, noise reducing headphones and earplugs will be provided at the front desk as some installations have audio that may be loud or jarring. Staff or student attendants can share these items upon request. 

Seating and benches are available throughout the gallery. If visitors need a quiet space, they can find this at the back of the gallery by Pain Pals, which includes a sofa and table with chairs. 

A Braille program, along with a tactile floorplan with a Braille key, is located by the gallery entrance. Tactile elements are also available for visitors to engage with, from 3D-printed and vibrotactile objects, to a tactile wall relief.

Events and related programming will have CART captioning and ASL interpretation.

COVID Safety

E.A.A.T. is presented by, with and for the disabled community, which has been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. As our community members remain vulnerable and may be continuing to shield from Covid-19, we strongly encourage visitors to wear masks to ensure that everyone can comfortably enjoy the exhibition. Masks and hand sanitizer will be provided at the entrance of the gallery.

Contact Information

For access requests or more information about visiting Beall, contact beallcenter@uci.edu or refer to UC Irvine arts access website. For specific questions pertaining to website accessibility or the E.A.A.T. exhibition, contact criptech@leonardo.info.

Access Partners & Support

Creative access for this exhibition was made possible through the partnership and support of several disability-led organizations. E.A.A.T. artists Meesh Fradkin, Carmen Papalia, Josephine Sales, Andy Slater, and Olivia Ting contributed to creating, auditing and troubleshooting access in physical and virtual spaces. Lighthouse for the Blind (San Francisco) provided the tactile floor plan and Braille program book. Social Audio Description Collective provided support on audio descriptions and visual descriptions. Cheryl Green provided support with captions and sonic descriptions. Luke Kudryashov provided guidance for digital accessibility and usability. Melissa Tobar provided 3D printing design and management. 

E.A.A.T. culminates years of conversation and collaboration in Leonardo CripTech Incubator, stewarded by the program team at Leonardo/ISAST. Claudia Alick of Calling Up Justice has advised and helped to implement accessible program design from the outset. Aimi Hamraie and Sins Invalid ran workshops on accessibility, disability justice and critical design.