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Category: Multi-Sensory

Touchable Alebrijes

The National Museum of Mexican Art, in Chicago, not only has a great collection of Alebrije, but has touchable versions as well as those behind glass. A great example of how when working with living and contemporary artists, when creating new experiences, there is ample opportunity to cost-effectively make artefacts and objects that can be explored through touch as well as sight. Multimodal interaction increases opportunities for inclusive accessibility, and deeper engagement among all audiences.

Tactile QR Code: Bourbon Edition

We have been using QR codes in some of our work as a simple way of surfacing access affordances, like visual descriptions of artwork within exhibition and gallery spaces. The final hurdle always remains ensuring the QR code is discernible through multiple modalities – not just visual. Making QR codes tactile is one of the tactics that can help contribute to their findability and usability (lining up the camera with the code). In many cases it has meant printing them with thermoform, 3D printing them, adding stickers to the printed codes, applying the printed code to a container or surface that is tactile, and various other methods. In this case, at The Manhattan Project in Louisville, Kentucky, they were so pleased with using QR codes for their menus during the pandemic, they embedded laser etched versions into their bar top. The bar manager was very happy to discuss the fabrication techniques with us. They were even more pleased to learn that in surfacing their menu in this way (digital on mobile via QR) they have made their menu accessible to many people who would otherwise have faced an access barrier. Digital presented on mobile allows for screen reading, pinching and zooming, color swapping, and more. The high contrast between fore and background helps visual discernibility, and the square itself is tactily distinguishable from the counter.

A light coloured wooden square is inset into a darker coloured wooden barton. The inset contains the letters TMP, followed by the words "The Manhattan Project", followed by a QR code. All 3 pieces of content are etched or laser cut into the surface of the wood and the deep groves are darker in colour providing a high contrast distinction against the un-etched surface. The etching is at a depth that facilitates tactile consumption of the content.
Tactile QR code seen at TMP in Louisville, Kentucky.

Unmute Art

As members of the MuseWeb GLAMi team since 2007 (formerly MW’s BoW), we have been intimately aware of the vast number of international projects submitted, reviewed, and awarded for innovation within the sector. Over this time we have encouraged change towards increasing the importance of inclusive design within the criteria for submissions and in judging formulas. This year it was incredibly refreshing and inspiring to see a project win Best of the GLAMi Awards that was uniquely focused on both inclusion and accessibility.

Unmute Art is a project created by Orpheo for the Andy Warhol Exhibition at the Pietrasanta Basilica in Napoli. This video-guide facilitates the delivery of interpretation through Italian Sign Language (ISL). Using Augmented Reality (AR), the user recognizes the relevant Andy Warhol piece, which provokes the video overlay. Actors were filmed in character matching the subject of the work, and the prompted video delivers the work’s interpretation through ISL.

Not only is the interpretive content made accessible to a historically marginalized community, but the experience is made rich and meaningful, facilitating the enjoyment and education of Warhol’s work by ISL signers, in their first language, without (critically) requiring they look away from the work as they receive the interpretation. This can be done at the same time as those receiving the interpretation in Italian via audio-guide interpretation. A meaningful project that was no doubt fun to produce and can be a great model for other GLAMs (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) to further iterate and build upon.

ISL signing actor made-up to look like the subject of an Andy Warhol art work. The work is highly stylized with boosted brightness and contrast reducing visual detail, and the actor is wearing a yellow sweater with black polkadots, green eye shadow, and set against a solid red background.
Italian Sign Language (ISL) fluent actors were made to resemble the subjects of Andy Warhol’s work so they could deliver seamless interpretation of his works via ISL without necessitating patrons look away from the art in order to view the interpretation.

Tactile Art Commission

“How I Came to Ottawa” by Acadian-Métis artist Eric Walker in 2017 is exhibited at the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) and is the gallery’s first special commission of a touchable art work.

The associated label calls attention through text and iconography that the work is intended to be touched. In fact the label invites visitors to “Please Touch!” the artwork. The relief, the materials used, the geometry of its components, and its explicitly detectable edges encourage multi-sensory exploration – visual and tactile.