A DANCER in a black ball gown tosses her head back, exposing an elegant neckline, and delicately lifts the sides of her ruffled skirt just enough to reveal the tip of one of her feet.

This early oil painting by Eugen Spiro (1874-1972) is one of a group of artworks that have been made accessible to blind people as part of a new exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie.

The gallery in the German capital has made textured versions of several paintings as part of the exhibition ‘Kunst in Berlin 1880-1980’ (Art in Berlin 1880-1980) to allow blind people to experience them through touch.

“It’s all about movement, vitality and nature, so that’s how it should feel,” said Reiner Delgado, a social affairs expert with the German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. “The textured picture speaks to me the way the painting speaks to those who can see.”
Realised after two and a half years of work between the association and the museum, the project is a permanent exhibition in a barrier-free room.
 

We wanted to make the core of our collection accessible to the blind and visually impaired,” says museum director Thomas Koehler. “This is something very special and completely new, which has never been done before in Germany.”

Seven of the pictures in the exhibition are available in textured versions that visitors can explored with their fingers. In addition, there is an audio app that describes 17 works in very precise detail.

“This is also a great opportunity for the sighted, because they can discover things that they otherwise might not have noticed,” noted Diana Brinkmeyer, the project’s lead consultant.

The tour through the exhibition follows a tactile guidance system on the floor. Round synthetic nubs signify important places to stop. Via a sensor in the ceiling, instructions are transmitted via the audio app, which makes it possible for the blind to get around without someone accompanying them.

Brinkmeyer said the project does not claim to explain everything, but instead provide room for personal impressions and experiences in encountering the artworks. “The results are not final or perfect,” she said. “But we have shown that it works.”
Source: https://borneobulletin.com.bn/berlin-exhibition-enables-blind-people-to-see-artworks/