Contra*

Each conversation featured in Disability Meets Architecture draws on a different productive friction and places two activists, architects, designers, writers or artists in dialogue. This one, on ‘anti-fascism,’ attends to the rise in right-wing, populist movements and their rhetoric. It asks what it means to continue to operate against the political pendulum, how to find gaps for resistance and how to fortify our movements in the face of erasure. It swings between the need to be legible to hold on to the basics of functional access versus a desire for illegibility and more expansive notions of access.This episode features Beatrice Adler-Bolton (she/her), a disabled and chronically ill writer and artist based in the U.S. who co-hosts the Death Panel Podcast with Artie Vierkant, Phil Rocco, Jules Gill-Peterson and Tracy Rosenthal. She also co-authored Health Communism (2022) with Artie Vierkant. This text sets out the history of the monetisation of health in the U.S. and identifies the necessity in a radical politics and approach which severs health from capital.Beatrice will be in conversation with both Scar Barclay and Paul DeFazio. Scar (they/them) is a UK-based neuroqueer architectural designer, whose work explores Disabled, neurodivergent, trans+ and queer ways of being. They have worked with The DisOrdinary Architecture Project since 2023. Paul (he/him[fluid]) is a legally blind architect and artist who works for Critical Design Lab and the Institute of Human Centred Design.To read the full episode transcript and learn more, visit ⁠criticaldesignlab.com⁠.Find out more about Beatrice’s work here: Websites: www.beatriceadlerbolton.com / www.deathpanel.net Instagram: @beatriceadlerbolton / @deathpanel_Bluesky: @reallandsend.bsky.social / @deathpanel.bsky.socialX: @realLandsEnd / @DeathPanel_Find out more about Scar’s work here: Website: disordinaryarchitecture.co.ukInstagram: @scarbarclay @disordinaryarchitectureFind out more about Paul’s work here: Website: criticaldesignlab.com humancentereddesign.orgInstagram: @defazio_paulAs always DMA is brought to you by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project and Critical Design Lab. Your hosts are Aimi Hamraie and Jos Boys, with Scar Barclay Paul DeFazio supporting the series production. Ilana Nevins is our editor.This miniseries is funded by The Graham Foundation.You can find out more about this project and related projects at disordinaryarchitecture.co.uk and criticaldesignlab.com.

Each conversation featured in Disability Meets Architecture draws on a different productive friction and places two activists, architects, designers, writers or artists in dialogue. This one, 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. This episode features Jeff Kasper (he/him), 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.Jeff will be in conversation with Anthony Clarke (he/him), Architect and Director of Austrailian architecture practice BLOXAS. BLOXAS has a radically empathetic and anti-hegemonic approach with their clients. Anthony is a co-editor with Judy Illes, Jos Boys and John Gardner of Neurodivergence and Architecture (2022).To read the full episode transcript and learn more, visit ⁠criticaldesignlab.com⁠.This miniseries is funded by The Graham Foundation.You can find out more about this project and related projects at disordinaryarchitecture.co.uk and criticaldesignlab.com.Find out more about Jeff’s work here: Website: jeffkasper.coInstagram: @JeffKasperStudio.Find out more about Anthony’s work here: Website: bloxas.comLinkedin: Dr Anthony ClarkeImage credit: Sayher Heffernan

Each conversation featured in Disability Meets Architecture draws on a different productive friction and places two activists, architects, designers, writers or artists in dialogue. This one, the introduction to our series, takes place at the Round Tower, Rundetårn, in Copenhagen. It was recorded just as we were planning the series when Jos and Aimi found themselves in the city at the same time. This tower, completed in 1642 for Christian IV of Denmark, features an equestrian ramp which would enable a horse and carriage to rise 34.8m to the observatory at the top. This ramp is not accessible under design guidance. However, it highlights how a design feature, often associated with access, is reimagined as desirable, going as far as displacing the staircase as the primary way to move vertically up this 17th C. tower. It shows how thinking differently about how we move through space, beyond the human, beyond the upright human, can create different forms of pleasurable architecture.This episode features Aimi Hamraie (they/them), founder and director of Critical Design Lab, a multi-disciplinary and multi-institution arts and design collaborative rooted in disability culture. Aimi is author of Building Access: Universal Design and the Politics of Disability (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) and host of the Contra* podcast on disability and design. They are a 2022 United States Artists Fellow, Canada Research Chair in Technology, Society, and Disability and Associate Professor of Social Science at York University.Aimi will be in conversation with Jos Boys (she/her), founder and co-director of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project with Zoe Partington. Jos was also part of Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative in the late 1970s and 80s in the UK. Through her work, Jos has co-authored and acted as editor/co-editor on a number of books including Disability, Space, Architecture: A Reader (2017), Doing Disability Differently: An alternative handbook on architecture, dis/ability and designing for everyday life (2014) and Making Space: Women and the Man Made Environment by Matrix (1984/2022). Jos is an Honorary Associate Professor at UCL (UK), and served as a Guest Professor at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen (2022–2025).To read a transcript and watch the accompanying video, visit criticaldesignlab.com. Find out more about Aimi’s work here: Websites: aimihamraie.com criticaldesignlab.com labsforliberation.orgFind out more about Jos’s work here: Website: josboys.co.uk disordinaryarchitecture.co.uk matrixfeministarchitecturearchive.co.ukA film accompanies this episode and is available on both DisOrdinary and Critical Design Lab’s websites.As always DMA is brought to you by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project and Critical Design Lab. Your hosts are Aimi Hamraie and Jos Boys, with Scar Barclay Paul DeFazio supporting the series production. Ilana Nevins is our editor.This miniseries is funded by The Graham Foundation.You can find out more about this project and related projects at disordinaryarchitecture.co.uk and criticaldesignlab.com.

On this episode, Aimi Hamraie and Kelsie Acton reflect on this season of Contra*, their work with the Remote Access Archives, and their hopes for how the archives will be used. They also share about their own experiences of finding remote access in their disability communities,and how they archived remote access with the Critical Design Lab team. On this episode, Aimi Hamraie and Kelsie Acton reflect on this season of Contra*, their work with the Remote Access Archives, and their hopes for how the archives will be used. They also share about their own experiences of finding remote access in their disability communities,and how they archived remote access with the Critical Design Lab team. Themes: Remote access and archiving remote accessDisability communities and collaborative access For a full episode transcript, visit criticaldesignlab.comLinks: Remote Access ArchiveThemes: Remote access and archiving remote accessDisability communities and collaborative access Links: Remote Access Archive

What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? In this mini-episode, Kelsie looks at Crips for E-sims for Gaza, an effort by Alice Wong, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha and Jane Shi to encourage disabled people and their allies to donate to get eSims to people in Gaza. Kelsie reflects on the relationship between mutual aid, remote access and the importance of doing something, however small. For a full episode transcript, visit criticaldesignlab.comLinks:Donate to Crips for Esims for GazaRemote Access Archive

What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? In this mini-episode, Kelsie shares a bit about Glitch Realm, a piece of digital art by Yo-Yo Lin and Kevin Gotkin, developed for one of the Remote Access parties and reflects on joy and access magic. For a full episode transcript, visit criticaldesignlab.comLinks:Remote Access Archive

What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? In this mini-episode, Kelsie looks at two articles documenting Alice Wong’s 2015 trip to the White House via a robot. In this mini-episode, Kelsie looks at documents that highligt an innovative remote access technology and the importance of remote access before the COVID-19 pandemic. For an episode transcript, visit criticaldesignlab.com Links: Disability Visibility Project Remote Access Archive

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke with a number of scholars and activists about mutual aid and pandemic times. This season we’re sharing some of those conversations. We’re also taking a closer look at some of the documents in the remote access archive. What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? In this mini-episode, Kelsie looks at documents associated with the UCLA Hybrid Access Strike and reflects on solidarity. For an episode transcript, visit criticaldesignlab.com Links: Remote Access Archive

Welcome to Season 4 of Contra*! We’re back with new episodes from the Remote Access Archives. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke with a number of scholars and activists about mutual aid and pandemic times. This season we’re sharing some of those conversations. For an episode transcript, please visit criticaldesignlab.com. What has been the role of remote access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the disability community? Aimi’s conversation with Hector Ramirez, a disabled, queer and Two-Spirit, and biracial disability rights advocate focuses on how remote access has transformed during the pandemic, and the implications of the pandemic on his disability community and culture. Themes: Disability politics and advocacy Remote access and workplace participation COVID-19 pandemic era institutionalization and isolation Public policy and access Links: Hector Ramirez Hector Ramirez on Linkedin

For more information on our guest, show notes, and transcript please go to criticaldesignlab.com.

For more information on our guest, show notes, and transcript please go to criticaldesignlab.com.

For more information on our guest, show notes, and transcript please go to criticaldesignlab.com