“Disability culture methods means, for me, that I'm always trying to come from the place of a question. Who's not in the room, and how can we have more people in the [real or virtual] room? That core question characterizes to me what disability culture is about. I, and the group of people I work with, always think about whoever “we” are as provisional. The kind of ways in which we communicate are provisional. We're not trying to come up with best practices. Instead, we're trying to experiment toward more access for more of us, toward more open futures.” —Petra Kuppers

Petra Kuppers, disability culture activist and community performance artist, uses movement, sound, taste, scent, touch, and dream-like visuals to transport her audiences to new realms, both real and imagined. In recognition of her contributions, Kuppers was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023. Her additional accolades include a 2022/23 Dance/USA fellowship, the American Society for Theatre Research’s best dance/theatre book award, and the National Women’s Caucus for the Arts’ Award for Arts and Activism. This past March, we spoke with Kuppers about the other ways she has engaged community in performance, how that work translates into her poetry, and the power in operating outside of the confines of traditional art spaces and methods.