Do you want us here or not (MMK), plywood, paint, installation view at MMK Frankfurt, 2021. Image description: A cushioned bench that says, "It was hard to get here. Rest here if you agree." The text is white on blue with the wooden parts of the bench painted blue too. The cushion painting has a texture that makes it look almost velvety. Above, painted on the wall, is small part of a giant mural by Christine Sun Kim: a point with three movement lines radiating from it.
Do you want us here or not (MMK), plywood, paint, installation view at MMK Frankfurt, 2021. Image description: A blue wooden bench that reads, “I need a break. Rest here if you agree.” In the background, a painting by German artist Deitrich Orth. The painting features a bright orange column holding up the numeral three and green blob or petal at the bottom.
Do you want us here or not (MMK), plywood, paint, installation view at MMK Frankfurt, 2021. Image description: A blue bench in a bright yellow room. This one says, "I'd like more time with this artwork but all this standing is painful. Sit if you agree."
The only thing I like about stairs is that they can be used as a place to sit in a pinch, installation view at MMK Frankfurt, 2021. Image description: A narrow 6-step stairway to a small balcony. The bottom three steps have been covered by velour cushions, sized to fit and cover the steps. To the side is a grab bar that makes it a little easier to get up and down from sitting.
Have you ever fallen in love with a clock?, installation view at MMK Frankfurt, 2021. Image description: A simple black and white clock face, with the days of the week written out around the edge in Shannon’s handwriting. The hand currently points to Monday. It hangs above a tan, built-in couch.
Have you ever fallen in love with a clock?, installation view at MMK Frankfurt, 2021. Image description: A close up of a clock. Instead of showing the hour and minute it indicates the day of the week. Its hand moves very slowly making a full rotation in 7 days. Here it points to Tuesday. The days are written in Shannon’s handwriting, same as the text on the furniture pieces.
Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, performance, The Vessel, New York, 2019. Image description: A black woman and a white man reading newspapers. The exterior spread functions as signage reading, “Anti-Stairs Club Lounge” in a stair-inspired font. They both wear bright orange beanies with a crossed-out-stairs symbol.
Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, performance, The Vessel, New York, 2019. Image description: A close-up of a person signing a pledge: “As long as I live, I will not go up a single step of the Vessel.” The pledge on colorful paper, riso-printed with blue hand-drawn text, and has a crossed-out-stairs symbol at the top.
Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, performance, The Vessel, New York, 2019. Image description: About 40 people posed in front of the Vessel sporting neon orange, Anti-Stairs Club Lounge beanies and holding Anti-Stairs Club Lounge Signs.
Anti-Stairs Club Lounge Documentation, performance, The Vessel, New York, 2019. Image description: A grid of colorful papers and photos. It includes signed pledges that say “as long as I live I will not go up a single step of the Vessel” as well as photos from the event (people in orange hats in front of a big copper structure.) New for this installation are reflections from participants that Shannon wrote out in their handwriting.
Naturally Occurring Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, Helmhaus, Zurich, 2021. Image description: An open elevator. Above on the wall, a symbol showing crossed out stairs. Inside the elevator, in a bright yellow step-themed font, it says “ANTI-TREPPEN-CLUBLOUNGE” with a smaller version of the same anti-stairs symbol.
Naturally Occurring Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, Helmhaus, Zurich, 2021. Image description: From the interior, when the elevator doors close, it reveals bright yellow text that says “WILLKOMMEN” and “WELCOME.”
In/With Chelsea, audio tour of signs, commissioned by High Line, New York, 2018-2019. Image description: A small metal sign bolted to a pole. It reads, “Kumhee: I grew up around non-disabled people so I’ve learned how to deal with their discomfort” in Shannon’s handwriting. Parked cars and buildings are in the background.
In/With Chelsea, audio tour of signs, commissioned by High Line, New York, 2018-2019. Image description: A similar sign that says, “Mario: Public benches, how wonderful, you know. You can actually walk and sit and catch your breath and have a sandwich, soda, or cup of coffee.” Blurry in the foreground, the back of someone’s head as they look at the sign.
Hello from my beside table, installation view, Kunsthalle Osnabrück, 2022. Image description: A building-size banner hung on scaffolding covering a church-turned-art-space. The banner is Shannon’s hand holding a needlepointed house. It has a front door, windows with curtains, bushes and trees with red and yellow flowers, and a brick chimney. A tissue comes out of the chimney a la smoke. Below is small handwritten text that says "Caregiver / caretaker."
Mentally I’m here 2, installation view, commissioned by Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener, 2022-2023. Image description: A billboard is mounted outside on the wall of a brick house. The banner features Shannon's hand holding a needlepoint-embroidered sofa. The sofa is knitted in a color pattern of white and black stripes with green and red dots. A tissue comes out of the seat. On either side of the billboard, there is handwritten text that reads “Big Depression” on the left and “Small Pleasure” on the right.
Mentally I’m here 2, installation view, commissioned by Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener, 2022-2023. Image description: A billboard showing Shannon's hand holding a needlepoint-embroidered bed. The bed has a wooden frame, white pillows, and a colorful duvet. A tissue is coming out of the duvet. On either side of the billboard is handwritten text that reads “Big Absence” on the left and “Small Presence” on the right.
Alt Text as Poetry, in collaboration with Bojana Coklyat, ongoing. Image description: A screenshot of alt-text-as-poetry.net, a mostly blue website. The heading reads “Alt-Text as Poetry” with a colorful navigation bar below that includes the options: About, Book, Workshop, Exhibition, Tools, Ecosystem, and Blog. Below that is a welcome that says, “Hi!! We’re glad you’re here!!” There are little flowers sprinkled around the page.
Alt Text as Poetry,, Workbook, in collaboration with Bojana Coklyat, published 2020. Image description: Two green books side by side. The text on one cover is a description of the other cover. An extract reads: “This book is printed at a familiar feeling scale. Big text fills the cover: ALT-TEXT AS POETRY. Each letter is made of repeated round shapes. These round shapes are symbols borrowed from landscape design where they are typically used to indicate different types of trees on plans and drawings.”
Alt Text as Poetry,, Workbook, in collaboration with Bojana Coklyat, published 2020. Image description: Shannon's hand is holding an open copy of the workbook “Alt Text as Poetry.” The left page is green paper and contains a table of contents. The right page is blue paper and begins with the book's introduction. A yellow bookmark with the project's website reference sits in the center. In the background there’s a green meadow.
Rue des Commerçants 62 Sounds, with Sven Dehens and Chloe Chignell, ARGOS, Brussels, 2021. Image description: A glass storefront set in a concrete building. Flanking the glass doors are two windows filled with yellow vinyl text. Above the door it says “rile*” and “ARGOS” and through the glass, some bookshelves and boxes.
Rue des Commerçants 62 Sounds, with Sven Dehens and Chloe Chignell, ARGOS, Brussels, 2021. Image description: A glass window set in a concrete building. The window is filled with yellow vinyl text. The text describes the sounds of its location, for example, “From down the street: muffled laughter, or a kind of thick giggle.”
communityhealthadvocates.org /healthcareqa/fight-a-denial/, drawing, installation view, 1969 Gallery, New York, 2021. Image description: A framed colored pencil drawing. At the top it says, "Bingo for calling my health insurance company" and below is a five-by-five square grid. The center spot, aka the free space, says "Filled with rage." Other squares say things like "confirm D.O.B.," "Given info that contradicts previous calls," "Pacing around," "mess up the menu options & have to start over," "website is broken but told I can find info there," and "give up."
Multidisciplinary artist Finnegan Shannon creates interventions that prioritize accessibility. Their works reflect their overarching practice, which emphasizes making both physical and digital spaces more accessible and addresses the lack of provisions for basic physical needs such as fatigue and exhaustion. For example, within the contemporary art world's white cube space, in which furnishings themselves can become art, Shannon demonstrates that access can only be ensured when spaces and protocols are reconceived based on multiple needs, rather than conforming to the ideology of a normative body. In this way, the act of sitting becomes a protest, where the occupation of space suggests the presence of political bodies who often remain invisible in protest marches that require participants to be mobile. The day clocks, entitled “Have you ever fallen in love with a clock?”, move so slowly that it is difficult to tell if they are working at all. Shannon invites viewers to think about the question, “What are the objects of disability culture?”
Finnegan Shannon (*1989, lives and works in New York) graduated in 2011 from Carleton College, Northfield. Some of their recent work includes Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, an ongoing project that gathers people together who share an aversion to stairs; Alt-Text as Poetry, a collaboration with Bojana Coklyat that explores the expressive potential of image description; and Do You Want Us Here or Not, a series of benches and cushions designed for exhibition spaces. They have done projects with Banff Centre, ARGOS Centre for Audiovisual Arts, the High Line, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, MMK Frankfurt, LUX, Nook Gallery and Deborah Schamoni.
CV Finnegan Shannon