Museum Show Highlights Media Makers on the Autism Spectrum


When his autistic son Nate was growing up, Josh Sapan would take him to the Moving Images Museum in Queens, where video game exhibits helped Nate connect with the world.

These experiences inspired Sapan, a museum trustee, to help create a program that would not only recognize the important role that motion pictures can play in the lives of people on the autism spectrum, but also highlight the people on the spectrum who created these images.

“I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be great if there was some recognition for work done by people on the autistic spectrum?” Sapan, vice president of AMC Networks, said: “As it rises, it can also spur funding, education and awareness.”

conclusion Media WondersAn exhibition, awards ceremony and festival that opened on March 31 and celebrates media producers across the autism spectrum.

“We shine a light on something that already exists and then help strengthen it,” said Carl Goodman, the museum’s executive director. “Innovation in the creative arts often comes from those who bring something cognitively unique to the table.

He added that the museum seeks to recognize “what role those who do not conform to cultural norms can play in some of the more culturally significant artistic works of our time.”

Dena L. Gassner, member Interinstitutional Autism Coordination Board He served on the museum’s advisory board within the Department of Health and Human Services. He said some people on the spectrum reacted to the rhythmic nature of moving images, especially those they could watch over and over again. “They like familiarity and predictability; “There’s a pattern to it,” said Gassner and his son, who are on the spectrum.

Among more than 3,000 nominations received from 117 countries, 20 media works were awarded. The 12 award categories include animated short films, digital art, documentaries, narrative features and video games.

Selected pieces range from do-it-yourself projects to those created with large production budgets.

“The message behind the show is self-advocacy,” said Sara Guerrero-Mostafa, the museum’s deputy director for education and community engagement. advisory committee of advocates, experts and artists.

“It’s part of saying, ‘Please accept them as valuable people who act differently, can say different things, may not look you in the eye,'” Guerrero-Mostafa said. “The message is that there is no one way to be autistic and we want to speak for ourselves. We don’t want to be told to comply.”

One intro, “Satan Cured My Autism,” is a 20-minute “imitation” of Jackson Tucker-Meyer, who is on the spectrum like other artists. It makes fun of what’s known as inspirational porn. Tucker-Meyer, 27, plays Jimmy, a young autistic character with two personalities: one who has “learned to assimilate into the neurotypical society – we call it masking”, and the other says “who doesn’t.” care about social beauties.”

“It’s a journey to reconcile or not reconcile one’s two halves,” Tucker-Meyer said in an interview. “I personally have the privilege of being neurotypical in certain situations, and that has its benefits and its own problems. I have been able to act in environments that may have been closed to me but also contributed to feelings of alienation or exhaustion. That’s what I’m dealing with in this movie.”

Among the 18 works on display in the exhibition are works by Bradley Hennessey. An Aspie Lifeis an arcade-style video game that deals with “scripting”, strategies used in autism education to help people know what to do in different social situations. “Having an exhibit will shed more light on our experience,” Hennessey said.

Bryn Chainey’s 2021 film “The Father of Rodents” stars Australian wrestlers in the United States. Alba Enid García Rivas and Julio Garay, a husband and wife team from Puerto Rico (Garay and their daughter are autistic), have created an animated movie about puppets and a child. grandmother teaching her granddaughter On Taíno ethnic groups: “Dak’ Toká Taíno/Yo Soy Taíno/I Am Taíno.”

Also in the exhibition is the 2007 short film “In my language” with blogger Mel Baggs, dead Opening a window into the minds of people who think and communicate in unconventional ways, the film received wide coverage on CNN when it first aired on YouTube.

London-based artist April Lin has created a giant motion picture mural commissioned for the museum’s lobby wall. “Film is my way of communicating,” Lin said. “Certain contributions made by autistic people are often thrown aside or never had a chance to bloom. This exhibit is a chance for us to be seen on our own terms without having to belittle ourselves or dilute it to fit someone else’s vision.”

Applications were reviewed by a panel of experts, including Sapan; actors Joe Pantoliano and Tony Goldwyn; Cheryl Henson, president of the Jim Henson Foundation; and producer Brian Grazer.

The festival includes a workshop on creating access drives for artists with disabilities, an animation workshop and film screenings.

“We need to include people on the spectrum in things that are created for people on the spectrum,” Guerrero-Mostafa said.

Eventually, Sapan said she hopes Marvels of Media will become something akin to the Special Olympics and put more emphasis on art forms that mean a lot to her son and others who share her interests. “It’s a self-focused project,” Sapan said.

For the producers, the project also feels personal. “I was actually trying to tell people what it’s really like to be autistic, specifically how it makes normal people feel, because I think that’s really what art is all about: to tell normal people what it’s like,” Tucker-Meyer says in the movie. it feels different.”



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