Reset Rooms a project by Shannon Finnegan & GALS

Way back in March we introduced you to artist Shannon Finnegan and our new multi-week outreach residency. The project opened on Thursday, March 12, 2020 and on the very next morning we closed due to COVID-19. While the project will still be there for you once we reopen we love it so much we wanted to share it with you here.

For this outreach residency, we paired Finnegan with students at Girls Athletic Leadership School. During their time together they dove into themes inspired by Finnegan’s artistic practice. Among many things, the group discussed how ableist systems influence the way folks experience physical spaces. Within these conversations, one guiding question was, who gets to decide what is appropriate behavior for public spaces? This took us on a journey that lead us to a space in gals known as the “Reset Room” a space students are encouraged to visit when they are feeling overwhelmed or distracted by emotions. Each student then created their own redesign of the reset room at MCA Denver. Each vignette is a multi-sensory space tailored to a specific feeling or mood. It may be a little while until you can experience these in person however, you can get a virtual tour below.