Disabled-led arts organisation Disability Arts Online (DAO) has announced the launch of dis_place, an innovative new digital gallery space dedicated to removing access barriers to exhibitions while platforming the work of disabled, D/deaf, and/or neurodivergent artists with a focus on intersectionality. dis_place will be led by Nathalie Boobis who has been appointed as DAO’s first ever in-house curator. For the soft launch of dis_place, Disability Arts Online has partnered with MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, to present a major exhibition of work by D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists. After the success of Towards New Worlds at MIMA earlier this year, this exhibition will tour to dis_place from 21 May – 19 December 2025, with selected works reimagined for online audiences.
Following this pilot exhibition, dis_place will host its inaugural exhibition featuring original works curated by Nathalie Boobis, launching in January 2026.
dis_place and Disability Arts Online (DAO)
DAO is internationally recognised for its sector-leading accessible website for disability arts, and has over two decades of editorial, artist development, and activist work in the sector. dis_place stems from this work and presents a new phase for the organisation. It will be a 21st century gallery space for presenting curated exhibitions and new commissions of artists and themes, deeply rooted in the discourses of disability arts, crip, sick and neuroqueer theory and politics.
In development since 2020, the gallery project has been the result of Disability Arts Online working in partnership with digital agency Surface Impression, consulting with its community and key stakeholders at every stage. It has been made possible due to funding from Arts Council England.
Trish Wheatley, Chief Executive of Disability Arts Online, commented:
We’re really excited to be launching dis_place as a curated, disabled-led gallery space that platforms the work of disabled, D/deaf and neurodivergent artists. As an organisation, we primarily showcase, critique and champion art and we are taking this to the next level with Nathalie’s appointment as curator. Our aim is to make dis_place truly sector-leading in terms of access, creating a high-quality audience experience that compromises on neither access nor aesthetics.
Nathalie Boobis – new DAO curator appointment
Nathalie Boobis is a disabled and neurodivergent curator, currently based in Newcastle. She was previously the director of Deptford X, a visual arts organisation and annual festival in South East London, from 2018 – 2024.
Having trained as an artist at the University of Brighton, she went on to study for an MFA in curating at Goldsmiths. Prior to Deptford X, Nathalie held a curator role at SPACE in London where she worked on the exhibitions and commissions programme. She was also previously a junior fellow both at Goldsmiths within the curating department and at Goldsmiths CCA in its first year.
As curator of dis_place, Nathalie will curate the exhibitions for the gallery and commission new art work to foreground intersectional disabled perspectives with a view to driving sector change.
Nathalie Boobis, Curator at Disabilty Arts Online said:
DAO dreamed up dis_place with a utopian ideology around accessibility and for me, as a curator, this sense of possibility that underpins the gallery’s existence is what is so exciting about the project. The form and the function of dis_place aim to challenge assumptions and limitations around access and disability, and my plans for the space are to curate exhibitions and commission new work that are led by artists’ practice in these areas.
A dedicated gallery space for research-led exhibitions, commissions, and showcases of the work of disabled artists is so needed right now. dis_place will bring the practice and discussions within the disability arts community into a wider context. For me, this is an opportunity to lead a project from my lived experience.
Towards New Worlds, as a landmark exhibition of work by disabled artists, is the perfect pilot exhibition for us to launch the gallery with. The exhibition deals with perception and sensory experiences so it has been exciting for me to work with Aidan to translate these works for a digital space. We can’t wait to share it with audiences next month.”
dis_place’s pilot exhibition – Towards New Worlds
Curated in collaboration with curator, artist and cultural activist Aidan Moesby and Helen Welford, MIMA’s curator, Towards New Worlds was a large-scale exhibition sharing artists’ experiences of seeing, hearing, feeling and sensing the contemporary world.
The exhibition explored a rich variety of human perceptions and sensory experiences through works of art, which make connections between the artists’ internal worlds and their external environments. Called ‘ground-breaking’ by the Art Newspaper, this exhibition is believed to be the largest exhibition of contemporary work by D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent artists to take place in the UK in the twenty-first century.
The exhibition at dis_place will open Towards New Worlds to wider, more diverse audiences. The artists confirmed to feature in Towards New Worlds at dis_place are Richard Butchins, Leah Clements, Joanne Coates, Ma?gorzata Dawidek, Jade de Montserrat, Colin Hambrook, Molly Martin, Louise McLachlan, Aaron McPeake, Sam Metz, Carrie Ravenscroft, Christopher Samuel, Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen.
Towards New Worlds Digital will run 21 May – 19 December 2025.
Aidan Moesby commented:
Towards New Worlds explored how we respond through sensing, feeling, and thinking, to our experience of the contemporary world. Reimagining Towards New Worlds for a digital space does not replace the physical experience but creates another dimension through which to explore the exhibition.
Exhibiting Towards New Worlds in a bespoke digital gallery, designed to be creative and accessible, brings rich potential for audiences’ experiences of important artworks. Like at MIMA, access will be integral to the experience of the exhibition via the dis_place gallery. We can’t wait for more people to encounter the artworks and ideas behind the show.
Towards New Worlds digital launch event
Disability Arts Online is marking the launch of dis_place’s pilot exhibition with an online event on 21st May 2025 at 2pm. Hosted by Nathalie Boobis and Aidan Moesby, it will include a tour of dis_place with the new Towards New Worlds Digital exhibition, along with discussions with featured artists. Tickets are free and can be booked via www.disabilityarts.online/dis_place-gallery
Featured image via Rachel Deakin
