A Conveyor Belt Brings the Art to the Seat
New York City artist Finnegan Shannon has installed a conveyor belt that carries artworks past visitors at Pioneer Works, the cultural centre in Brooklyn. The piece is titled There's No Me Without You, and Shannon made it as a comment on accessibility in art, meaning how easily people with different bodies and needs can reach and enjoy it. Dezeen reported the installation on 12 November 2026.
The belt is 12 feet (about 3.7 metres) long and runs in a closed loop, so it moves in a continuous circle with no start or finish. Trays on the belt carry the exhibited objects, archival materials and portable DVD players. The mechanism was built from the kind of rotating display system used in sushi restaurants, where plates travel past diners on a track.
Chairs are placed around the belt, so visitors can sit while they watch and engage with the works. Pioneer Works says the installation makes real a long-held wish of Shannon's: an exhibition space that meets the artist's access needs.
Shannon was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth. The condition affects movement and posture, and it is one reason the artist has thought closely about how galleries are laid out and how visitors move through them.
The installation also presents new commissions, meaning works made specially for the show, by three artists with disabilities: Joselia Rebekah Hughes, Ariana Martinez and Alex Dolores Salerno. Their pieces sit alongside Shannon's belt, so visitors move between the artists' work without having to walk the room.
For a visitor, the usual routine of standing, walking and reading labels is replaced by a slower, seated experience, with the art coming round to them. The show is a reminder that the way a room is arranged decides who can stand in front of a work, and for how long.
