Divergent BodyMinds, Zomerfabriek (2024)

"neuroqueer" (verb):

• Being both neurodivergent* and queer;

• Engaging in practices intended to undo and subvert one’s own cultural conditioning of neuronormative and heteronormative performance;

• Approaching, embodying, and/or experiencing one’s neurodivergence as a form of queerness.

 

The term “neuroqueer” was coined in the book “Neuroqueer Heresies” (Nick Walker), which likened the social imposition of heteronormative performance to the social imposition of neuronormative performance, and recognised the comparability and interconnectivity of queering heteronormativity and neuronormativity. We encourage neuroqueer artists to send in proposals for artwork exploring their lived experience of neuroqueerness. We have named this exhibition ‘Divergent BodyMinds’ to acknowledge the inseparable and interdependent relationship between the body and the mind as rooted in disability studies, and particularly welcome at this intersection. 

 

*"neurodivergent" (adjective):

"Neurodiversity" describes natural variation in minds and brains, and was first described by the autistic community in the '90s. People tend to think of a specific range of experiences when it comes to "neurodiversity": traditionally including autism (ASD), attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia. However, here we use the term to include a broader spectrum of bodymind experiences that we call, for example: obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, depression, Meares-Erlen syndrome, hyperlexia, schizophrenia, Tourette's syndrome, synaesthesia, and many more. 

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​Curation: Bethan Burnside

Artists: Lora-Elly Vannieuwenhuysen, Marjan De Ridder, Vaula Lukander, Delta Van Melle.

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Photography by Sterre Ligthart.