A Neurodiverse Fabulation: Techniques for Neurodiverse Futurities

Guided by the question “What can neurodiversity do?”, the collective shy*play (Aion Arribas and antje nestel) will story their art and pedagogical practice of Doing Neurodiversity. Aion and antje will tell one of the many stories that make up the ever-evolving world of shy*play, foregrounding its urgency, emergence, desires, and techniques of improvisation. These techniques are crafted to shift the conditions of participation away from neurotypicality and towards the creation of neurodiverse socialities together-in-difference. The presentation will be storied through a combination of autoethnography, philosophy, poetry, projected photos, video and the various materials that will perform in the space, among other fabrics that shy*play will bring in. A story for shy*play can never be told without also exploring and emphasizing the rich interrelationships of human and more-than-human at all times.

The session will be moderated by Theron Schmidt (Utrecht University).

shy*play is a collective co-initiated by Aion Arribas and antje nestel, operating at the intersection of art-as process, education, curatorship, neurodiversity, and disability. The collective has developed participatory events and environments — ranging from the performative series at puntWG in Amsterdam (2023) to participatory installations at 0-eA in Yokosuka, Japan (2024), and UNIARTS in Helsinki (2024), as well as long-form explorations like workshop series at If I Can’t Dance (2025–26). Across these engagements, shy*play cultivates and curates spaces where alternative forms of participation, sociality, and collective creation can emerge outside neurotypical norms. antje and Aion are fellows of the 3rd cycle research program THIRD.

You can register for this seminar here.
This session is part of the Transmission in Motion seminar (2025-2026): “Navigating Entanglements.”
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