Human Commonalities

How do people with disabilities perceive current artistic practices — and how, in turn, does the professional arts community perceive them? In search for the answers to these questions, participants of the joint project of V–A–C and Manege Museum and Exhibition Hall resort to a variety of formats. Human Commonalities comprises an exhibition, public talks, performances and film screenings. Artists, philosophers, art theorists, teachers and professionals from other fields consider ways to include people with disabilities in the contemporary cultural process, considering international experience in disability studies. The participants in the talks discuss what we mean by the reception of a artwork, what an artwork is, and how to understand the artistic process in the context of the differences between people with various disabilities.

The project aims to outline ways to create a community in which there are no differences on the basis of physical and intellectual abilities. A community that thinks of itself holistically, but not through standardization and normativity, but rather through the realization that one's physical and cultural capabilities can only be realized to the extent that they are realized inall other participants.

Project participants

Emanuel Almborg, Yuri Albert, Tatiana Basilova, Amanda Cachia, Maria Chekhonadskih, Keti Chukhrov, Fayen d’Evie, Asta Gröting, Simon Hayhoe, Alexander Kondakov, Andrey Maidanskiy, Darrin Martin, David Mitchell, Valery Podoroga, Irina Povolotskaya, Robert McRuer, Sharon Snyder, Alexandra Sukhareva, Alexander Suvorov, Sadie Wilcox, Elena Yarskaia-Smirnova and others.