There are a lot of experiences I am still processing from 2025. It was a year of great personal and professional growth—some significant challenges and transitions too. There is so much to be thankful for. Today I am reflecting on the amazing opportunity to reveal a new commission, being part of a vibrant disability arts community, and achieving tenure (deep sigh of gratitude). Right now, I am looking back on the smiles from the premiere of How do you throw a brick through the window… at @tuftsartgalleries . Can’t wait for the show to open at @jmkac this March (!!!) Thank you to all who made the last year so special. Here’s to a new year! Hello 2026.
#Repost @disart_now
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VIDEO: Recap of the Artist Workshop with @JeffKasperStudio at #ArtOfDisruption2023 in Heartside Park in #GrandRapids, MI during #ArtPrize2023. “The amazing thing about the DisArt project is that it brings together #DisabilityJustice and #BlackCivilRights both in the same space,” Jeff Kasper.
@DisArt_Now x @SiTELAB at @ArtPrize
#Repost @metaopenarts 😍
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Jeff Kasper’s meditative murals in Queens and on Staten Island, entitled “Soft Spots,” are set at a distance of 6 feet apart, playing on the visual style of the social distancing floor graphics that we see so often today. “Soft Spots” uses public space to facilitate social cohesion amid the ongoing and often isolating pandemic.
Last October “Soft Spots” was featured in @untappedny ’s “14 New Public Art Installations in NYC.” Jeff is one of 5 Black artists selected to participate in the Not a Monolith cohort: a public art and professional development initiative presented by @artbridge , Meta Open Arts and @wetheculture .
Check out more of Jeff’s work at @jeffkasperstudio on Instagram and tap the link in our bio to learn more about #NotaMonolithNYC.
📸: Video by Ronald Weaver II (@rw2productions )
#NotaMonolith #WeTheCulture #MetaOpenArts #JeffKasper #SoftSpots #Untapped #publicart #NewYorkPublicArt
#Repost @smithartmuseum
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Meet one of the artists of “Don’t mind if I do,” Jeff Kasper, an artist, writer, and local educator. Jeff’s work “Wrestling Embrace” is featured in the “DMIID” installation. Displayed as a deck of cards, “Wrestling Embrace” is an interactive exercise that facilitates navigation into themes of consent, conflict, and care.
About Jeff Kasper’s artwork, “informed by personal and collective experiences of illness and trauma, Kasper’s projects explore how people navigate social support, proximity, and care in everyday life. He is interested in how design can make tangible the often-unspoken negotiations people engage in around distance, connection, trust, vulnerability, and safety.”
Descriptions:
Image 1: Portrait of Jeff Kasper, he is wearing a black jacket and shirt, and a blue and red striped scarf.
Image 2: Picture of Jeff Kasper’s deck of cards “Wrestling Embrace” atop a round disc. There is a sand timer and a call bell accompanying the cards.
Image 3: Another picture of Jeff Kasper’s deck of cards “Wrestling Embrace” atop a round disc. There is a sand timer and a magnifying glass that is magnifying the word embrace on the deck of cards.
Image 4: View of Jeff Kasper’s deck of cards “Wrestling Embrace” in the gallery on a blue conveyor belt. In the background two figures interact with the exhibition.
Credits in comments.
What does it mean to fiercely care and be cared for? 💭
The second conversation in our brand new podcast series ‘Disability Meets Architecture: On ‘care with teeth,’ takes its name from the expression “joy with teeth” in Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human (2024) by Cole Arthur Riley. It considers the plurality of care, what it means to fiercely care and be cared for, care as a radical embedded practice and one which brings with it at times conflict and challenge.
About the speakers:
- Jeff Kasper (@JeffKasperStudio ) is an artist, writer, and educator working across public art, design, and social practice. Jeff’s project ‘Wrestling Embrace’ (2017-present) uses physical contact, guided contemplation and embodied practices to navigate consent, conflict and care in interpersonal relationships.
- Anthony Clarke is an Architect and Director of Australian architecture practice BLOXAS. BLOXAS has a radically empathetic and anti-hegemonic approach with their clients. Anthony is a co-editor with Jos Boys and John Gardner of Neurodivergence and Architecture (2022)
About the podcast:
DMA is a collaboration between The DisOrdinary Architecture Project and Critical Design Lab. This miniseries is funded by The Graham Foundation.
🔗 Explore the conversation using the link in our bio.
Or by heading to the ‘Archive’ section of the DisOrdinary website or ‘Contra*’ section of the Critical Design Lab website.
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ID:
1. Headshot of Jeff, a light-skinned Black man with brown eyes, a shaved head, and tightly shaven mustache and bread, wearing a black top and jacket and blue and purple scarf, laughing at the camera, in an artists studio.
2. Black and white headshot of Anthony, a white man with a beard, black top and round tortishell glasses.
3. Disability Meets Architecture logo - a graphic of two torn pieces of paper which don’t match up, one is red and one pink. On top sits the text ‘Disability Meets Architecture’ in white text on a black background.
#DisOrdinaryArchitecture #CriticalDesignLab #Disabled #Creatives #DisabilityJustice
Last weekend to visit In Feeling: Empathy and Tension Through Disability at @fralinmuseumuva
This incredible multi-sensory and access-centered exhibition features works by nine contemporary artists that reckon with how we empathize.
I am honored to exhibit the 2025 edition of my ongoing project “wrestling embrace” among works from artists and friends I deeply admire.
Participating artists include JJJJJerome Ellis, Jerron Herman, Molly Joyce, Jeff Kasper, Christine Sun Kim, Park McArthur, Finnegan Shannon, Andy Slater, and Liza Sylvestre.
Curated By Molly Joyce, Dean’s Doctoral Fellow, Department of Music at UVA, and Kristen Nassif, Ph.D., Curator of Collections at The Fralin Museum of Art. Photography by Stacey Evans.
Last days to experience How do you throw a brick through the window… @tuftsartgalleries before it travels to @jmkac for 2026!
It has been so wonderful having my new commission “inside voices” — a work of text, installation, and audio — premiere in Boston. The project was a few years in the making. Returning to the design language of “Soft Spots” (2021-2022) “wrestling embrace” (2017-ongoing), this work contemplates social distance and the tensions between isolation and mutual aid.
How do you throw a brick through the window…presents new commissions and recent works of art exploring how individuals with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergence navigate forms of protest despite the normalization of ableism in public spaces.
Now on view at TUAG through November 9, 2025 and on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) March 14–October 4, 2026, the exhibition is part of a two-year research initiative co-organized by TUAG and JMKAC that began in 2024.
How do you throw a brick through the window… features the work of seven artists—Yani aviles, Chloe P. Crawford, Nat Decker, Jeff Kasper, Carly Mandel, Jeffrey Meris, and Libby Paloma—who engage the radical questioning of Korean-American writer, artist, and musician Johanna Hedva: “How do you throw a brick through the window of a bank if you can’t get out of bed?”
The exhibition is co-organized by TUAG Curator Laurel V. McLaughlin and JMKAC Associate Curator Tanya Gayer in dialogue with the artists. Exhibition Graphic Design by Emily Sara.
✨ Week 5 is coming! Join us on July 7 for Resilience is a Social Practice with Jeff Kasper, featuring commentary from Sasha Costanza-Chock.
What do you think of when you hear the word resilience? Join us as Jeff Kasper deconstructs resilience as a form of collective access work—something designed, sustained, and practiced together. This performance lecture explores collective access through design, storytelling, and rest. 🗓 July 7 @ 10AM CST 💻 Zoom: bit.ly/L4LLectures ♿ ASL + CART provided
#DisabilityJustice #DesignJustice #AccessIsRelational #LabsForLiberation
Image Description:
A dark black flyer with circuit design and two circular photos. On the left is Jeff Kasper, a person with light skin, bald head, and facial hair, smiling widely. They are wearing a dark jacket with a scarf, standing in an art-filled room. To the right is Sasha Costanza-Chock, a white nonbinary trans* femme person with long light brown hair, large clear glasses, and orange earrings, resting their chin on their hand. Text reads: “Week 5: July 7. Lecture @ 10AM CST. bit.ly/L4LLectures. Jeff Kasper. Sasha Costanza-Chock. Resilience is a Social Practice. Labs for Liberation Lecture Series.”
in each other we trust
October 5-28, 2024
ECA Gallery Invitational
Old Town Hall
Easthampton MA
Photos by Stephen Petegorsky
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In the prototypes for white flag series, Kasper complicates the international sign for ceasefire as an enduring symbol. Since 2017, this ongoing series questions if such objects could persist as signals for cooperation and collaboration rather than surrender and defeat. By merging the object of the white flag with digitally-altered archival materials from the New York Public Library Picture Collection, and found typographic ephemera, he reveals newly created contemplative gestures and texts. The collection of eight flags are paired with two works created over the last eight years that explore the language of intimacy, conflict, and trust. lessons (vol. 1), a single channel video with accompanying score, presents two figures standing side-by-side while performing a series of slow movements, including hand holding and lacing fingers. A newly minted edition of love devours time (a manifesto in five parts) deconstructs the nature of love as a practice and commitment. Visitors were welcome to take a copy of the publication to share with others.
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In each other we trust was organized by Pasqualina Azzarello, Arts & Culture Program Director for Easthampton City Arts (ECA), Tracey Eller, ECA Committee Chair, and E. Maude Haak-Frendscho, ECA Committee member
Image descriptions in AltText
✨ My KEYNOTE for the 2024 ARTS ACCESS SUMMIT is now on YOUTUBE! ✨
Access: This recording has ASL interpretation, verbal descriptions, and closed captions available.
I’m so grateful to the @InclusiveArtsVermont team for inviting me and holding such an inspiring space for disabled artists, accessibility experts, and audiences.
Check out their page and consider supporting their programs for children and adults throughout the Green Mountain State!
Video Link in Bio 🔗
#artseducation #inclusive #accessibility #disabilityarts
I am so honored to be the KEYNOTE for the @inclusiveartsvermont Arts Access Summit! Join us virtually on May 15th!
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#repost - We are thrilled to announce the Arts Access Summit KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Jeff Kasper! ( @jeffkasperstudio )
Jeff joined the Arts Access Summit last year as a panelist. His care and community centered art practice made a lasting impression on attendees and the IAV team. We are honored to have Jeff lead this year’s Arts Access Summit with his Keynote Performance Lecture: Dreaming Resilience
Description: Jeff Kasper will guide summit participants through a meditative performance lecture featuring recent projects, writings, and research ephemera gathered by the artist. This restful stream of image descriptions, poetic prompts, and contemplative activities will explore the strength found in moments of care and vulnerability.
Learn more about Jeff and his art practice at: https://jeffkasper.co/
The Arts Access Summit is a day-long virtual conference happening on May 15, 2024. This year’s theme is Resiliency & Rest. Learn more at: /events-resources/arts-access-summit-2024/ or through the link in our bio.
Access: This event will have live captioning, verbal descriptions, access doulas, and ASL. For access needs contact Heidi at [email protected] or call 802-556-3668.
Image: A deep blue background. In the middle is a portrait of Jeff standing in his studio with a big smile on his face. He is wearing a black shirt and a blue, purple, and mauve striped scarf. Jeff has brown skin, brown eyes, and a tightly-shaven haircut, mustache, and beard. Text below shares information in the post about the event and access information.
Delighted that “signs” was featured in “Chapter 16: Dis/Orientations” along with a collection of brilliant access artistry in the new publication “Many more parts than M! Re-imagining disability, access and inclusion beyond compliance” produced by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project (@disordinaryarchitecture )
In the UK, Part M of the building regulations provides design guidance for disabled access to buildings and spaces. In Many More Parts than M! the authors are interested in going beyond the limitations of such banal ‘one-size-fits-all’ technical solutions, especially when these tend to be mere ‘add-ons’ at the end of the design process.
As part of Arts Council England (ACE) funding and support from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the publication aims to offer a rich catalogue of alternative concepts, stories, artistic work and architectural details, led by the creativity of disabled artists and architects, that can critically inform design thinking and practice. Rather than relying on either conventional disability categories (blind, wheelchair-user, deaf) or standard accessibility terms (wayfinding, tactile paving, platform lifts), it is organised around an alphabet of key terms, mostly drawn from disability arts, activism and scholarship. The catalogue can be read in any order, enabling some immediate creative thinking as well as offering connections to more in-depth information.
Click my link in bio to visit The DisOrdinary Architecture Project website and download a pdf or access the online version, which is screen readable including alt text, along with some supporting resources, including video interviews with some of the contributors.
Image description in #alttext
