Towards New Worlds in Middlesbrough redefines the way we experience art

On the way to new worldscurrently on view at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, opens with a request: “You are invited to strike and touch the bells.” It’s a simple but powerful request – one that fits an exhibition that aims to do more than just that , redefining how we experience art but also how it can bring us together.

Aaron McPeake, the artist behind these striking copper, tin and oak sculptures, created them fifteen years after he lost most of his eyesight. His work emphasizes the importance of multisensory interaction and invites the viewer to experience his art through sound and touch as well as visually. It is a theme that runs through the entire exhibition and in which all artists are represented On the way to new worlds aPeople with disabilities, hearing loss and/or neurodivergence create a space where inclusivity and accessibility are at the heart of curation.

At RA Walden Crip Ecologies (2018–), his fragile objects—like leaves and snail shells preserved in glass—challenge our assumptions about who can engage with nature and how that engagement is mediated through the body. A more intimate exploration of this idea can be found in Christopher Samuel’s episodic video installation. The archive of an invisible man (2022), in which the artist recalls growing up black, disabled and working-class in 1980s Britain. At the heart of these films is the careful communication of the language used to talk about disabilities and the people with them. Samuel’s work frees himself from strict medical dialect and grants him full autonomy to tell his own story; His voice-over narration is complemented by an archive of photos and documents from his childhood.

There is also a local element to the show, with many artists coming from the North East themselves. Local photographer and farmer Joanne Coates turns the camera on herself for the first time, creating a fascinating series of portraits from her barn. Elsewhere Małgorzata Dawideks The other bank (2024) combines aerial and ground photographs of the River Tees, historical maps and microscopic images of locally mined potash, connecting the land, its minerals and the human body. In a stunning series of self-portraits, she places stones from the river on parts of her body affected by potassium deficiency: her feet, her shoulders, her knees.

The breadth of work on offer is truly impressive, but it is only a small exception On the way to new worlds greatest achievement: an exhibition in which disability is not just a side note in the artists’ work, but is celebrated as an integral part of their creative process. Although almost a quarter of people in the UK have a disability, the art world remains largely inaccessible to people with a disability. So MIMA’s work is crucial here because it is the first time that many of these artists’ works have been shown in an exhibition of this size, forming a collaborative cohort. Without underestimating the challenges they may face, these artists each offer a glimmer of hope in their work: art that speaks of new ways of creating and new ways of being.