Don't mind if I do

Finnegan Shannon is an artist whose mischievous works challenge traditional museum practices and etiquette. For Don’t mind if I do, Shannon brings alive their longtime fantasy for an exhibition that meets their access needs. “I’m disabled,” they say, “and I need to sit. I’ve been dreaming about an exhibition where instead of having to move from artwork to artwork, I could sit somewhere comfortable and have the artwork come to me.”

Don’t mind if I do is a collaborative experiment demonstrating how temporary changes in power structures create pathways of access for visitors, artists, and staff. Anchored by a conveyor belt that brings artworks to visitors who are invited to sit around comfortable furniture and engage with the objects, the exhibition features artworks by a selection of artists who have influenced Shannon’s practice. The paraded objects, including plastic pill bottles, tissue box covers, and gender-affirming packers, signify illness, systems of support, and play within everyday life.

Embraced for its efficiency and mechanized transport of goods, the conveyor belt is reappropriated as a vehicle for cultivating a more relaxed museum-going experience. It welcomes informality, messiness, and unsettling the hierarchy of objects.

This web text was written by Denny Mwaura for Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago based on texts by Finnegan Shannon and Lauren Leving and is used with permission.
 
Artists
Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Pelenakeke Brown, Sky Cubacub, Emilie L. Gossiaux, Felicia Griffin, Joselia Rebekah Hughes, Jeff Kasper and Finnegan Shannon.

Curator
Lauren Leving

Support
This exhibition is made possible at SCMA by the Charlotte Frank Rabb, class of 1935,
Fund; the Judith Plesser Targan, class of 1953, Fund; and the Ann Weinbaum
Solomon, class of 1959, Fund. Generous support is also provided by Art Bridges
Foundation’s Access for All program.
 
Presenting Partners
Don’t mind if I do originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (July 7, 2023–January 7, 2024) with generous support provided by the Ford Foundation. Additional touring venues include: University Library at California State University, Sacramento (September 10–November 27, 2024) and Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago (September 23–December 13, 2025).