Are you bored with enjoying artworks by sight? Try to visit tactile galleries to feel a new art experience by touching. Today, the tactile gallery has become more common both for visually impaired viewers and everyone who is interested in multi-sensory exhibitions.
Nowadays, the museum has moved away from its traditional didactic role by showing distinguished objects, to active, dialogic, transformative, and intermediary spaces for modeling human-environment relationships. In the twenty-first century, museums of natural sciences and everyday life objects have become more familiar to use tactile sense to introduce their collections. However, art galleries are still rare to hold multi-sensory exhibitions. One of the reasons is because they are still surrounded by a modernist view that considers sight as the ultimate sense among other lower senses, like touch, smell, and taste. Modernist saw these latter senses as “immature, uncivilized, childish, even bestial.” (Bálint Veres, 2019).
Nevertheless, recent multi-sensory studies point out that involving mixed senses can stimulate the brain to activate, develop, and increase each sensory system’s functioning. Multi-sensory experience helps us to gain a comprehensive and integral understanding of perceived objects.
These are 5 tactile galleries around the world that invite everyone to experience art interactively and inclusively:
1. Museo Omero
Museo Omero is a tactile museum in Ancona, Italy. This museum was established in 1993, dedicated to helping visually impaired visitors, but also open for everyone. Every collection is accessible to touch and has descriptions in Braille. This museum displays various copies and casts of real archeological findings such as the Venus de Milo and Michelangelo’s Pietà. They also have architectural of famous buildings, like the Parthenon, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and Saint Peter’s Basilica. The total collections of this museum are 150 touchable pieces of art.
State Tactile Museo Omero, Touching Art. https://www.museoomero.it/en/
2. Jewish Museum Frankfurt
The Jewish Museum Frankfurt re-opened in October 2020 after its closure and reconstruction. This museum sets a new permanent exhibition that shows the history of Jews in Frankfurt from 1800 to the present day. They offer a wide range of tactile objects, from religious objects and scenes, famous artworks, to architectural models. The Tactile Studio team created tactile stations and orientation maps allowing visitors to discover and understand displayed objects in each exhibition room. All of the stations are completed with Braille, contrasting text, and tactile references.
Tactile station presenting objects used in performing religious rites – © JMF, Norbert Miguletz. https://tactilestudio.co/achievements/jewish-museum-frankfurt-tactile-model-accessibility-inclusion/
3. Mashburn/Marshall Tactile Gallery
Mashburn/Marshall Tactile Gallery is located in Colorado, US. The Tactile Gallery was established in 1981 by a committee led by Mary Mashburn and Peggy Marshall. This gallery focusing its collections on museum-quality sculpture in various media and featuring more than 100 works. All displayed objects are accessible for those who are blind, sight-impaired, or physically challenged. They also have braille, large print labels, and raised counters to accommodate wheelchairs.
Mashburn/Marshall Tactile Gallery. https://fac.coloradocollege.edu/exhibits/tactile-gallery/
4. French American Museum Exchange (FRAME)
FRench American Museum Exchange (FRAME) is a consortium of 32 major museums in France and North America that promotes cultural exchange in the context of museum collaborations. In 2020, FRAME planned an exhibition called Please Touch, designed specifically for people who are visually challenged. This exhibition aims to increase a better understanding of artworks by touching reproductions of them. Please Touch is expected to travel to five other museums in the FRAME network, which are: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon; Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen; Musée d’arts de Nantes; and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux.
“Please Touch”. Tactile Gallery, FRame. https://framemuseums.org/art-and-matter-please-touch-tactile-gallery/
5. The V&A Museum
The V&A in London, has been offering tactile sessions for visually impaired visitors since 1985. They have various tactile collections, tactile books, and audio descriptions for exhibited items. The V&A also created a sensory backpack to help children and families with visual impairments. This backpack contains lots of objects to touch, such as ceramic models and different materials, allowing visitors to explore the museum through multisensory activities.
Tactile museum experiences at the V&A. https://www.museumnext.com/article/making-museums-accessible-to-visually-impaired-visitors/