Accessible Exhibition Design

As artists, we often leave exhibition design to curators or gallerists. However, as our careers develop we have more and more say in the presentation of our work, especially in design solo or small group exhibitions. There are many aspects of exhibition design that can improve accessibility within an exhibition. In a 2014 article about curating accessible art exhibition, Jessica Cooley discussed this mindset:

"The process of incorporating universal design to create an accessible exhibition is a curatorial one. It is curatorial because access shapes the audience and therefore determines an exhibition's intention. We must ask ourselves who is important enough to include in the audience and how will we design an exhibition to realize that inclusion? For example, if we exclude large print, audio guides, or tactile pieces, then we exclude people with visual impairments. This is also curatorial because accessible exhibitions are a matter of choice. These choices are sometimes negotiated by financial constraints, but that assumes that all access costs money. Printing wall text in large font, hanging paintings a little lower, and leaving space between sculptures for wheelchair access does not cost money and resistance to creating a space like this usually emanates from aesthetic sensibilities and not financial ones." - Jessica Cooley (Cooley and Fox, 2022)

This section outlines a few suggestions related to exhibition design that can create a more accessible space and exhibition materials.

ADA Requirements for Exhibitions

Curators, Gallerists and Preparators (as well as other operational staff at arts spaces) should be familiar with legal requirements related to the ADA; however, these are sometimes overlooked or neglected. As an artist who might be planning an exhibition, installation or events, it's important to know the basic ADA requirements, so you can keep them in mind in the early stages of the planning process. Here are a few that tend to be most relevant to exhibition design:

  • Pathways within the gallery, as well as doorways, should be a bare minimum of 36 inches wide. More ideally, a pathway of 60 inches should be created - this is the minimum width to accommodate two wheelchair passing each other or a wheelchair user turning.

  • Flooring needs to be clean and free of obstructions. You may want to consider adding short barriers or wood trimming (see image in the example section) around plinths to signal to Blind or low-vision cane-users that they are near an object with artwork - notes the presence of these in your exhibition guide (specific in the Access Needs section)

  • Objects hanging on the wall in a hallway or pathway cannot protrude more than 4 inches, unless they are hung below 27 inches or above 80 inches from the ground.

  • Displays and written information, documents, etc., should be located where they can be seen by a seated person or wheelchair user. Exhibits and signage displayed horizontally (e.g., open books), should be no higher than 44 in above the floor surface.

  • When planning wall text and exhibition signage:

    • Letters and numbers on signs shall have a width-to-height ratio between 3:5 and 1:1 and a stroke-width-to-height ratio between 1:5 and 1:10.

    • Use simple San Serif font - not italicized or all upper case

    • The characters and background should be high contrast. The background of signs should be eggshell, matte, or other non-glare finish. Characters and symbols shall contrast with their background --either light characters on a dark background or dark characters on a light background.

    • Mounting height should be 60 inches above the floor to the centerline of the sign. Mounting location for such signage should be so that a person may approach within 3 inches of signage without encountering protruding objects or standing within the swing of a door.

    • If you are planning Braille signage, letters and numerals should be raised 1/32 inches, upper case, sans serif or simple serif type and should be accompanied with Grade 2 Braille. Raised characters shall be at least 5/8 inches high, but no higher than 2 inches. (If you are unfamiliar with Braille, there are set standards related to size and raised level of the letters that are required for someone to read it - if these standards are not adhered to, it makes the braille signage challenging to read or completely illegible.)


It is the responsibility of exhibition or performance space to ensure that ADA requirements are honored, but if you are interested in looking up something specific, you can reference the full list of ADA requirements on the ADA.gov website.

Artwork Display Height

Standard practice in most galleries and contemporary museums exhibitions is to hang artwork at "average eye level," which is considered to be 57 inches from the floor. This height unfortunately excludes people of short stature and wheelchair users. When designing an exhibition of your artwork consider hanging some of the artwork at lower heights, or using lower plinths for small sculpture. Thinking about this aspect of exhibition design while creating the artwork can also lead to work that is better suited to be viewed at both lower and standard display heights. 

Large Print and Braille Exhibition Guides

When you are collaborating with a curator and other arts workers on an exhibition of your work (or perhaps organizing one for yourself) you should plan to have at least a few large print and braille exhibition guides available for visitors. These can be helpful for low-vision and blind people who want to read a version of the exhibition catalog or guide. Additionally, when adding text on the walls throughout the exhibition, a large font (at least 14pt for wall labels) is preferable. 

You should plan to work with the arts workers who are developing your exhibition to ensure that other print and digital material - such as exhibition postcards and digital promo - meets accessible design standards. 

Audio Guides + Audio Artwork Descriptions

While artwork descriptions on a website or social media can be accessed by a screen reader, descriptions on a printed wall label or exhibition catalog are not inherently accessible to those who need them in order to engage with the artwork. An audio guide that features recorded versions of your artwork descriptions can provide blind and low-vision folks with an alternative form of engagement. You can consider creative approaches to these recordings by adding ambient music or using a style of performance that speaks to the artwork. You can also add information about the exhibition space itself - describe the environment, as well as the artwork. These guides can be thought of as another iteration of the visual artwork. 

Gallery Seating

Many Disabled people find art space inaccessible because they lack enough benches within the galleries. For folks who have mobility related disabilities or chronic pain, long periods of standing and walking is challenging. Not having access to seating in an exhibition space can make it difficult to fully engage with the artwork. Even many non-disabled folks would appreciate a place to sit and spend more time with an artwork. Exhibition design should include ample place to sit and rest; you should plan to incorporate a few benches throughout the exhibition space.

Examples

#CripRitual Exhibition

#CripRitual was a virtual, multi-sited, participatory exhibition of artworks exploring themes of disability culture and ritual. Through this exhibition, the Critical Design Lab, in collaboration with Tangled Art + Disability Gallery in downtown Toronto and the Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto Scarborough, seeks to create a living archive of #CripRituals. 

In this exhibition, artworks depict or create rituals that refer to shared experiences of disability culture. The exhibition recognizes crip rituals as processes and events geared toward building power, strategies for surviving ableism that may be secular, spiritual, or in-between. (CripRitual, 2022)


Note the option for Simple English (also known as Plain English) and ASL video versions of their statements available on their About the Exhibition page. 

CoMotion Festival

The CoMotion Festival, curated by Alex Bulmer, was held at the Habourfront Centre in Toronto in spring 2022. This accessibility focused festival celebrated new ideas and expressions by Deaf and disabled artists in a multidisciplinary program including visual arts, music, performances, digital art, workshops and panel discussions. For an example of an accessible exhibition guide, check out their Festival Access Guide.

Jessica Cooley and Ann M. Fox Discuss Curating Accessible Exhibitions

In Disability Art, Aesthetics, and Access: Creating Exhibitions in a Liberal Arts Setting, 2014 article in Disability Studies Quarterly, curators Jessica Cooley and Ann M. Fox discuss their approach to integrating accessibility features into two of the exhibitions. In their own word:

“In this essay we discuss the strategies and concepts behind two separate disability arts exhibitions we co-curated at Davidson College in 2009: RE/FORMATIONS: Disability, Women, and Sculpture and STARING. First, as curators who have mounted two disability arts exhibitions in the context of a small liberal arts college, we offer insights from our practical experience related to conceptualizing and producing a show focused around disability and art: its shape, funding, and display. It is our hope these will be useful to curators, but also to those who have little or no curatorial experience. Our comments will emphasize the context of the liberal arts college, but many of the central issues we confronted would be relevant to mounting such exhibitions in other settings. Second, in discussing the dialogues about disability that emerged within and from our two exhibitions, we want to provide some answers from our own experience to the question: what compelling issues and ideas emerge at the intersection of access, disability aesthetics, and art when creating such exhibitions?” (Cooley, Fox, 2014)

Learn More

Resources About Accessible Documents