Overview

When I visited the Henry Moore Institute, they had a large exhibition of three artists my age exploring fragmentation and decay sculpturally and a smaller exhibition on landscape art. I loved to be in the space with these large sculptures made by people who had experienced the world at the same time as me, without any barriers to divide me as the viewer from the art -- no ropes or glass or decades of scholarship and canonised interpretations. It was so easy to move around the exhibition in my powerchair. There was always enough space to see the sculptures from all sides without having to worry about knocking into anything. The atmosphere was calm but not oppressive or strict and it felt very easy to have conversations with the staff about the works and the exhibition. The main exhibition space has quite tall ceilings, so sounds can carry. The exhibition on landscape art was in the Study Gallery, a much smaller space. The door into it is not automatic, but another visitor held the door for me and there is a gallery assistant in the space as well that could help. Most of the exhibits were easy for me to see from a seating position, except for some in the further reaches of a large flatlay display case. Most importantly, I got to see some Andy Goldsworthy sculptures in person! Day made. I did not have much time to spend in the gift shop, but I would have loved to. It was very stylish and had lots of colourful things on the shelves.

Transport & Parking

The closest bus stop is Victoria Square on The Headrow (14, 15, 19, 19A, 42, 49. 50, 50A, 55, 55C, 65, 72, 75, 508, X6, X10, X11). It is a 7-minute/0.3 mile walk or wheel from Leeds train station. There is some on-street parking a block down on Oxford Street and paid multi-storey car parks at The Light and Albion Street.

Access

The main entrance facing Victoria Square has stairs with 6 to 8 steps and railings on the left side leading up to automatic double doors. The accessible entrance is around the right side of the building (Cookridge Street), where you can find a platform lift behind two tall doors. There are door openers for these on the wall on either side. Inside the double doors on the right wall is a button that calls the lift and automatically open the lift door, which opens to the outside left. There is an explanation and a phone number to call for help on the door to the lift. You need to move back from the door after pressing the button to make space for it to open. The controls for the lift are on the left side. There is also a handrail and a mirror. There are large buttons labelled Down/0 and Up/1. The numbers on the buttons are elevated. There is no Braille. You need to press the button and hold it until you are all the way to the next floor. The door opens into a passageway that is not necessarily too narrow to turn, but you should turn to the right as soon as you come out of the lift. The button to call the lift to go down again is on the wall to the left of the lift door. The floor on this level is smooth and even wood or linoleum. The flooring in the basement level is low carpet. When you exit the lift to the right, you enter the gift shop. The reception counter is to the right and there is an induction loop available there as well as a portable one to take into the galleries. There is a large curved sofa in the middle of the room/to your left that has a backrest and no armrests. Many of the books on display are too high up to reach from a seated position. The entrance to the main gallery space is diagonally across the gift shop from the lift and the counter. It has a large automatic door. There is a staircase in the main gallery space leading up to Leeds Art Gallery, but for step-free access, you have to leave the Henry Moore Institute and enter the Art Gallery separately. To get to the Study Gallery a the lift, you need to turn around and go back past the lift. The Study Gallery will be straight ahead and the lift on the same wall to the right. The lift is quite narrow and I had to line up carefully to get in. The call button is on the wall to the right of the lift door. You can go up to the Research Library and Archive and down to the Toilets and Seminar Room. The lift has handrails on all sides, a mirror on the back and buttons on the left. The buttons have Braille and raised numbers. To get to the toilets, press B. If you, like me, are in a wheelchair and exit the lift backwards (since there is no space to turn), the toilets will be to your left.

Toilets

The toilets are in the basement. They are all gender-neutral, fairly narrow and contain a toilet and sink. One of them also has a baby change, which is marked with a baby symbol on the door. The doors open with a lever handle to the inside. There is a large accessible bathroom close to the lift. The door opens to the outside right. No key is needed to access the bathroom. There is no door opener. The handle on the outside a lever. There is a handrail and a coat hook on the back of the door and it locks with an extended twist look. When you enter, a machine to the left of the door explains that it can give you an audio description of the bathroom and you can wave your hand in front of it to activate it. It is triggered by movement, so be prepared for the message to play again while you are in the bathroom. There is a fixed vertical handrail and horizontal handrail that can be lifted and moved out of the way to the right of the toilet and a fixed horizontal handrail on the wall to the left of the toilet. The flush is a lever on the right side of the tank. The toilet paper holder is to the left of the toilet. There is space for a left-side transfer. The red cord is to the right of the toilet. There are vertical handrails on either side of the sink. The sink is a small wall-mounted sink and the tap has a medium-length lever. There is a mirror above the sink. There is also a wall-mounted soap dispenser to the right of the sink. There is a paper towel dispenser further to the right with a bin underneath it. There is a colostomy shelf and a full-length mirror on the left wall as you enter.

Staff

I really enjoyed my interactions with the gallery staff. I talked to them about our ideas about the art and the exhibition and I felt taken seriously and appreciated. They were happy to answer my questions.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

You can find extensive information about accessibility provided by the gallery on their website: https://henry-moore.org/henry-moore-institute/plan-your-visit-to-the-henry-moore-institute/accessibility-henry-moore-institute/ Unfortunately, it seems that there is no audio description for the current exhibitions or at least it has not been linked.

Photos