What is Access Lab & Library?
Summary
- We are called Access Lab & Library. Sometimes we shorten this to ‘ALL’
- We are artist-led and disability-led
- We work with artists and creative companies
- We research tools and techniques for creative access
- We are growing a library for sharing ideas and equipment
Introduction
ALL, or Access Lab & Library, develops and nurtures artist-led and disability-led access in creative settings.
We approach access as a temporary, collectively-held space, as an experimental field and as a platform for generosity. Our creative partners are artists, collectives and commissioning organisations. We work in our local communities and with national and international collaborators.
Access Lab
Through our Access Lab, we research, prototype and co-present tools and strategies that expand sensory, multisensory and intersensory access for artists, audiences and archives. We have worked with access for live performance, exhibitions, public programmes, digital broadcasts and publishing.
Our focus is on co-developing innovations in access beyond baseline compliance; access that is artist-led and disability-led; access that aligns with distinct, individual and collective ethics, aesthetics and practices.
Access Library
Our Access Library includes a growing collection of books, videos, guides and other texts relevant to access. We activate these resources through reading groups, workshops, courses, artist exchanges and temporary libraries. We are exploring new approaches to developing and sharing case studies of artist-led access strategies.
Within our Library, we also host and maintain a selection of access equipment focussed on production, performance, recording and broadcast. This includes an array of items ranging from audiodescription systems to captioning tools and tactile printers. We are now trialling a lending system for artists and cultural partners within Naarm/Melbourne and regional Victoria.