"On Curating the Art of the Learning-Disabled and Neurodiverse: A Manifesto"

In "On Curating the Art of the Learning-Disabled and Neurodiverse: A Manifesto," Andrew Hunt discusses curatorial strategies for the display and collecting of learning-disabled and neurodiverse art in the context of its recent critical reception.

The text, published September 1, 2025 in The Curatorial jounral, makes reference to such artists as Nnena Kalu, William Scott, and Marlon Mullen. It addresses the activities of grassroots organizations such as Creative Growth, NIAD, and Creativity Explored in California’s Bay Area; nonprofits such as White Columns, New York, and Studio Voltaire, London; and museums such as Tate, SFMOMA, and MoMA.

And it asks: How can a neuro-normative theoretical apparatus comprehend and process learning-disabled and neurodiverse art, which is typically produced outside of foundational art-historical narratives? As well, the essay raises the question: How might we develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding alongside a range of qualitative judgments that intensify and expand ethical forms of curatorial practice? The ambition of the text’s polemics is to devise a long-term strategy for museums to collect the work of these artists, eventually without a nominative distinction from the work of other artists.