STIM CINEMA is an exhibition and moving image installation that explores neurodivergent perception, agency, and communication in an era increasingly defined by misinformation, polarization, and systemic distrust.

Curated by Christine Shaw, the exhibition features work by The Neurocultures Collective (Georgia Bradburn, Benjamin Brown, Sam Shown-Ahearn, Robin Elliot-Knowles, Lucy Walker), a group of neurodivergent artists in collaboration with artist-filmmaker Steven Eastwood.

At its core, the project asks: What does it mean to trust one’s own perception when dominant narratives privilege certain ways of sensing, knowing, and being? How do neurodivergent experiences of movement, repetition, and sensory engagement challenge dystopian conditions of control, standardization, and hypersynchronization?

STIM CINEMA critically intervenes in the dystopian conditions where difference is pathologized, sensory processing is disciplined, and trust in institutions is eroded. Instead of reinforcing logics of neurotypicality, this project explores other linguistic and embodied possibilities for being in relation—where trust is built through sensory connection, shared experience, and an ethics of care.

In the Blackwood Gallery, the exhibition opens with zoetropes, historic moving image devices that rely on repetition and motion, connecting early cinema to the repetitive, self-regulating practice known as stimming: the practice of physical repetition as a way of taking sensory pleasure in recurrence, or of expressing and alleviating anxiety, and a common trait of autistic experience. Visitors are invited to spin the zoetropes themselves to make animations come to life. The centerpiece film, STIM CINEMA, is an 18-minute, three-screen installation following a neurodivergent protagonist during an eye-tracking test. Rather than reinforcing surveillance or diagnostic control, the film subverts these structures, revealing hidden details and sensory richness often dismissed in a world structured by neurotypicality.

In the e|gallery, the exhibition foregrounds the project’s collaborative process, showcasing mind maps and ephemera generated through visual thinking and iterative dialogue. These elements highlight neurodivergent-led production models that cultivate alternative forms of trust between artists, audiences, and the sensory environments they co-create. To complement the Collective’s mind maps, the gallery has been turned into a studio which promotes group research and learning, featuring related readings, stim toys, and sensory aids. With ample tables, chairs, and materials related to the exhibition, the e|gallery provides an inviting space for classroom and community engagement.

This exhibition has been designed with a commitment to accessibility and neurodiverse inclusion. Visitors are invited to make use of stim tools, including tactile objects, fidget items, weighted blankets, and textured seating that support sensory regulation and embodied engagement with the space. The gallery has been calibrated with soft lighting and a visually calm layout. The free-standing projection wall has been safely built with a soft lean to elicit trust in the work and trust in the gallery. The zoetrope plinths vary in height to enhance accessibility for all visitors, including wheelchair users and children.

The exhibition also offers multiple points of access to the artwork. Core content is presented in layered formats, including audio descriptions and a large-print guide.

Staff are trained in disability and neurodiversity awareness and are available to support your visit. If you have specific access needs, we encourage you to reach out in advance or speak to a team member on site.

The Blackwood acknowledges that accessibility is an ongoing process. We welcome feedback and dialogue to continue to make our spaces more inclusive and responsive.

Responsive programming runs alongside STIM CINEMA including screenings, workshops, campus walks, performances, and a 4-day interdisciplinary seminar series.

All programs are free and open to the public.

Throughout Fall 2025 a lunchtime Reader-in-Residence series on UTM campus will offer group readings, discussions, and embodied activities led by guest contributors whose ethical, political, and social commitments complement the exhibition. Centring the practices of UofT faculty and graduate students, these sessions offer multimodal responses to neurodiverse cultures, aesthetics, and modes of perception.

Each session will be held in the exhibition’s Co-Creation Studio, located in the e|gallery, CCIT lower level, and will include:

Both the Blackwood Gallery in the Innovation Complex and the e|gallery in the CCT Building are accessible to people who use mobility devices, with doorways measuring over 32” wide. All entrances at ground floor level to both buildings are equipped with power-assisted doors.

The Blackwood Gallery is located on the ground floor of the Innovation Complex, which includes open spaces, round sloped corners, and windows to facilitate visual communication and navigation. Accessible multi-user gendered washrooms are located at ground level.

The e|gallery in the CCT Building is located on the ground floor, accessible via the east entrance (adjacent to parking lot 9) at ground level, or by elevator from the main floor entrance and at parking garage levels 1, 3, and 5. Accessible multi-user gendered washrooms are located at ground level, and accessible multi-user all-gender washrooms are located on the third floor of the CCT Building.