What's on Blog Announcing the Beyond the Visual exhibition! Banner image: Lenka Clayton's Sculpture for the Blind, by the Blind (2017). Description: photograph of seven individual sculptural forms presented on seven square tables, each lit by spotlights. The forms are bright white and roughly egg-shaped, each surface with varied textures: some rough, some smooth. Henry Moore Foundation · Beyond the Visual Press Release Visit the upcoming exhibition Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, in collaboration with University of the Arts London and Shape Arts, presents Beyond the Visual, an exhibition of contemporary sculpture designed to be experienced using multiple senses. The exhibition marks the culmination of a pioneering three-year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Beyond the Visual brings together work by both blind and sighted artists and is co-curated by Professor Ken Wilder, artist and Professor of Aesthetics at University of the Arts London (UAL) and artist Dr Aaron McPeake, Associate Lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts (part of UAL), who is registered blind. They are joined by Dr Clare O'Dowd, Research Curator at Henry Moore Institute, who plays a central curatorial role in the project. Developed in collaboration with Shape Arts, the exhibition builds on their research and reflects a shared commitment to exploring alternative modes of experiencing sculpture. The exhibition will include new commissions and features historical and contemporary works by Lucia Beijlsmit, Lenka Clayton, Fayen d'Evie, Barry Flanagan, Hillary Goidell, Emilie Louise Gossiaux, David Johnson, Jennifer Justice, Georgina Kleege, Aaron McPeake, Sam Metz, Serafina Min, Henry Moore, Bryan Phillips, Collin van Uchelen and Ken Wilder. Works on display in the UK for the first time include a new iteration of Emilie Louise Gossiaux’s Doggirl 2025, an anthropomorphised ceramic sculpture based on the artist’s guide dog and animal companion. Jennifer Justice’s highly tactile hanging installation Bucket of Rain 2017 comprises cherry, pecan, walnut, maple and elm ‘raindrops’ suspended from a ghostly iron bucket rim. Artist and pyrotechnician Collin van Uchelen’s Project Fire Flower (2021) features a series of illuminated tactile panels that translate the patterns of light in fireworks into non-visual forms using engraved pathways and integrated audio descriptions. Lenka Clayton’s collaborative installation Sculpture for the Blind, by the Blind 2017 plays on the inherent irony of Constantin Brâncuși’s Sculpture for the Blind 1920, a work now presented in a glass case that can no longer be touched. Clayton invited blind and partially blind people in Philadelphia, USA to listen to her audio description of Brâncuși’s work and make their own versions of Sculpture for the Blind. Partially blind writer Joseph Rizzo Naudi is collaborating with the artists and curators to ensure every work in the exhibition will be audio described and forms a crucial part of the exhibition experience. In addition, London-based Korean artist Serafina Min obscures her sculptural work in an opaque acrylic vitrine so it can only be accessed by audio description. The inclusion of work associated with Tate’s landmark 1981 exhibition Sculpture for the Blind will add a historical dimension to the exhibition. Aimed at widening inclusivity for blind audiences, the exhibition featured tactile works including Barry Flanagan’s Elephant 1981. Henry Moore was a powerful advocate of tactile experiences in sculpture and supported a number of other early 'touch' exhibitions. Beyond the Visual will offer a rare chance to touch Moore’s Mother and Child: Arch 1959. Principal Investigator for Beyond the Visual, Professor Ken Wilder, says: “The exhibition at Henry Moore Institute is exemplary of a new multisensory approach where access is integral to the creative and curatorial process. This integrated approach will influence institutional policy about how we all interact with sculpture.” Image: Ken Wilder's Pendulum (2025) Co-Investigator for Beyond the Visual and co-curator of the exhibition, Dr Aaron McPeake, says: “Most exhibitions routinely exclude blind or partially blind people with instructions to not touch the artwork. Beyond the Visual, by contrast, celebrates the work of blind artists and non-blind artists who make multisensory work. There is a history of such exhibitions – but they were often curated by sighted people, whereas now blind artists and curators are at the forefront, moving the agenda forward.” Image: Aaron McPeake's Rings (2025) Head of Henry Moore Institute, Laurence Sillars says: “Beyond the Visual transforms how we think about sculpture. It invites all of us to engage through touch, sound and movement. This remarkable exhibition reshapes our understanding of access, not as an afterthought, but as a starting point for creativity, marking a turning point for the Institute as we commit to embedding these principles in everything we do." Image: Henry Moore's Mother and Child: Arch (1959) This exhibition coincides with the launch of a fully accessible book Beyond the Visual: Multisensory Modes of Beholding Art, edited by Ken Wilder and Aaron McPeake and published by UCL Press, available in print or as an open access free download online. As well as chapters by all three curators, the book features contributions from the multidisciplinary network generated through the research, including exhibiting artists Fayen d'Evie, Georgina Kleege, David Johnson and Collin van Uchelen. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of events, building on the Beyond the Visual Research Season which took place across West Yorkshire in 2024/5. Beyond the Visual takes place at Henry Moore Institute from 28 November 2025 to 19 April 2026 Find out more about the project Manage Cookie Preferences