I began the research component of this project some time ago, and in my exploration of the accommodations currently available to the visually impaired in American art institutions, I have discovered a variety of experimental services. Having been to museums with my mother countless times since I was a child, I am familiar with the kind of issues she encounters while trying to interact with a museum exhibition along with the sighted public. Being familiar with the specific problems she experiences in art museums as a blind "viewer," I can understand how the services currently being developed and already offered at some institutions came into being, and seem like somewhat logical solutions. For example, every time we visit a museum together, I often end up describing the composition of artworks to my mother, who then uses my visual description and what she can make out with her limited vision to try to come to an understanding of the piece. Often she will squint at the piece on the wall, using her finger to outline what she can see, remarking to me "Ah, I see a red blob over on the right side," or "I think I see a face, is this a portrait?" Often, in the midst of my visual descriptions she will excitedly find a visual reference and exclaim "Oh! I see it! I get it!" From these experiences with my mother I can understand exactly why extremely detailed auto description programs would be of assistance to the visually impaired visitors of a museum. In fact a small number of museums either have specialized tours with extra visual description available, or in some cases allow their visually impaired patrons to use their general audio guides for free.
Another tool currently being tested in the field are tactile cards that attempt to translate the composition and palette of well-known pieces into a tactile experience. This particular project I find to be more problematic. Trying to reduce what is an entirely visual experience into a condensed, tactile version does not seem to me to be a real solution. While braile works as a communication tool for the blind, it is an entirely new language that must be learned like a 2nd language. Translating a visual experience into a tactile one that cannot embody nearly the amount of detail seems like a second-rate experience of the work. While it could be helpful to people like my mother, who have a very limited amount of sight left, it does not replace the visual experience with one equally as meaningful. That is where PLEASE TOUCH THE ARTWORK hopes to intervene.
As opposed to focusing on ways to replace the visual experience, or translate it from one sense to another, PLEASE TOUCH THE ARTWORK aims to put on display art works that operate within a multi-sensory vocabulary from the beginning, so nothing is lost in translation.
Feb 21, 2011
Project Proposal for PLEASE TOUCH THE ART WORK: A Multi-Sensory Art Exhibition
While all art historians and art lovers alike aim to continuously engage with the visual world, I have a particularly strong awareness of my reliance on vision because of a serious genetic retinal degenerative disease that runs in my family. Growing up with a visually impaired mother who is also an activist for disability rights, I have always been aware of the struggles and limitations that people with disabilities face on a daily basis. In the last few years, I have become increasingly aware of the utter inaccessibility of the art world to the visually impaired. While specific branches of law are responsible for the progression of disability rights, the process of accessibility reform is slow and seems to be far removed from the art community. I feel that steps need to be taken to create awareness in the art community about the serious accessibility problems the art world faces as a series of practices, traditions and experiences that revolve entirely around vision.
The project has two goals: The first is to compile comprehensive data on the current state of art accessibility to the visually impaired in the U.S. This study could eventually contribute to the designing of a standardized format that would apply across museums and other exhibits to ensure access to everyone. The second is to demonstrate feasible solutions to accessibility problems by holding a local exhibition that features multi-sensory art objects. In the last few decades art practices that revolve around tactile, auditory, and phenomenological elements have found their way into the art historical canon; however, they are mainly revered for their conceptual value, as opposed to their inclusive significance. Creating an exhibition that demonstrates the diverse methods employed by contemporary artists to branch out of the visual realm and utilizes feasible curatorial methods to ensure accessibility would help set a precedent for accessibility reform in American art institutions. It would also send an important message to the visually impaired community that engagement with art objects is not limited to the sighted. It is a common assumption that the visual nature of art as it has existed for centuries necessarily excludes this segment of the population. With the development of new technologies and the recent history of new media art, this is no longer the case. Contemporary art has already redefined "the viewer" as "the experiencer." This exhibition aims to fully realize that conceptual move, translating it into a physical one.
Your pledges will directly fund the exhibition "Please Touch the Artwork." Exhibition costs include printing promotional materials and an exhibition catalog, renting a space for the exhibition, transportation of the art objects, supplies for the opening reception, and materials for preparing the gallery space. Please visit the kickstarter.com project page to help make this exhibition a reality.
Image credit Grant Hollingworth
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