Tactile Studio asked people what Inclusion brings to the Museum. Take a look at the video in this post:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tactilestudio_what-does-accessibility-and-inclusion-bring-activity-6800408146427830273-bKe1
Category Archives: Museum Accessibility
Museum for All and ARCHES: towards inclusion in museums.
Museum for All is a platform that has been running since 2012 and whose main focus has always been to promote accessibility to museums and cultural centres regarding the needs and variety of their audiences. In this sense, its path relates to the H2020 European project ARCHES, which stands for “Accessible Resources for Cultural Heritage and Ecosystems”.
This project has been developed within three years by different partners, such as research institutions like the University of Bath and The Open University, technological companies like Singtime and Coprix Media, and –most importantly- museums all around Europe such as Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Spain), the Victoria and Albert Museum (United Kingdom), the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (Austria), Museo Lázaro Galdiano (Spain), the Wallace Collection (United Kingdom), and Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias (Spain).
ARCHES has brought together disabled people, technology companies, universities and museums in order to develop technical solutions such as tactile reliefs made with the latest 3D modelling techniques, barrier-free apps and games for smartphones and tablets, sign-language avatars and other cutting-edge techniques oriented to a better sensorial and cognitive experience of the museum. These technologies have been co-designed and tested by more than 200 disabled people in Spain, Austria and the United Kingdom.
This video shows an introduction to the project made by some of the people who participated in it.
As the video points out, ARCHES did not aim to differentiate between one type of disability and another, but to provide a better experience of the pieces displayed at museums for everyone visiting them. In order to achieve this, the research team –made up of members of universities, museum professionals and people with different disabilities- have put together a series of workshops to promote active participation, taking into account and paying special attention to the guidelines and needs expressed by disabled people.
It is at this point where ARCHES and Museum for All meet together. ARCHES’ main objectives and research methodologies match the protocols that Museum for All intends to follow, always taking into account the opinion and participation of the museum’s users in order to improve spaces and experiences. ARCHES’ website contains a list of the objectives and work packages followed during the development of the project, which can be briefly summarized in the following ideas:
- ARCHES focusses on develop and evaluate strategies to put new technologies at the service of people with differences and difficulties associated with perception, memory, cognition and communication in order to enable their inclusion in museums.
- The project also works on identifying sources –Internet, internal archives, libraries, etc. – that could integrate this content into innovative tools and on inserting them in operational environments based on participatory research.
- The main purpose of this is to work with cultural heritage sites and museums to help them engage with a wider range of audiences promoting the tools and applications developed by this participatory research by means of on-site demonstration activities.
Taking these as a base, Museum for All wants to explore how all of it can be applied to smaller museums –which is one of Museum for All’s main objectives- and also include other groups and other needs that involve family models (looking specially at tour and spaces for children), lifestyle (promoting options in museum’s cafés for vegan and vegetarian people, allergies, diet restrictions, etc.), and ethical commitments (such as social inclusion beyond disabilities, gender representation, ageing, etc.). The tracking on how apps and other technological, structural or planning facilities can help to make museums more bearable and accessible taking into consideration the variety and plurality of public is another thing that Museum for All and ARCHES have in common, thus ARCHES methodology serves as a basis for carrying out and realizing these objectives.
ARCHES’ results are to find online and put at the service of museums and the cultural community. They are available in three languages (English, German and Spanish) and focus on the implementation of participatory methodologies towards a wider inclusion in museums.
If you are interested in reading more about these far-reaching commitment that Museum for All has towards inclusion, please check out our posts “Beyond Disabilities” (I, II, and III). At Museum for All we know that these aspects can still be expanded and that there is still a long way to go for museums to become a place of encounter and representation, of memory and expression, also contributing to contemporary realities of contemporary people who use and experience them – something that has changed and will continue to change over time, preferably towards a more inclusive and plural society.
Art, Museums and Digital Cultures — CONFERENCE
In the upcoming days, 22nd and 23rd April, will take place online the International Conference ‘Art, Museums and Digital Culture’. The Conference’s main aim is to provide a space for discussion to different experts, researchers and organizations about how digital technologies have contributed to the creation of new territories and so have stimulated other innovations in artistic production, curatorial practices and museum’s spaces –all this in a time of greater and deeper interest in the impact of technologies on society. This conference is coordinated by the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon, Instituto de História da Arte and Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas from the NOVA University of Lisbon and the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (maat) of Lisbon.
The different sessions draw a wide perspective on digital art practices, going from strategies for digital integration in both artistic, museographic and curatorial itineraries, to collaborative policies and methodologies that bond together art, technology and society. The keynote speakers are focused on new technologies, finding proposals about Machine Learning and Systems of Knowledge related to art creation (Anna Ridler), about how the new technological dynamics have affected all different kinds of publics (Felix Stalder), and how museums can adapt themselves to the post-digital era also regarding accessibility (Ross Parry & Vince Dziekan).
The EU-funded Project “Accessible Resources for Cultural Heritage EcoSystem” (ARCHES), carried out within the framework of an H2020 research project, will present in this conference. Partnering with ArteConTacto and Museum for All, their representatives (Rotraut Krall, Moritz Neumüller and Andreas Reichinger) will elaborate on their pioneer participatory research approach to digital technologies in the museum in order to make them more accessible. Technological tools such as tactile reliefs, apps and games for smartphones, and sign-language avatars have been designed and tested by more than 200 people in three different research groups in Spain, Austria and the UK. These groups were also made up of very different people with different necessities and interests, thus representing different views and experiences and also highlighting the disabling consequences of social attitudes sometimes carried out by museums and other cultural institutions.
Among the different strategies carried out by ARCHES during its research, this conference will focus on two examples of solutions for a better understanding of two paintings in particular: The Laughing Cavalier (Franz Hals) for the Wallace Collection in London, and The Peasant and the Nest Robber (Pieter Bruegel the Elder) for the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Both examples count with a 3D print of the painting stressing out different aspects of each piece and also complementing them with other resources like Easy Read texts and Soundscapes. All these strategies were though in order to better address the needs of museum visitors, also pointing out how technology can be good, useful and beneficial to everyone. The educational team of the different museums that participated with ARCHES expressed that their strategies and tools when working with disabilities and in participatory environments have deepened with this participative methodology, so it avoids solutions developed ‘for” these particular users, instead of ‘with’ them.
For more information on this project and also getting a wider perspective on digital technologies and inclusive strategies and innovations in artistic production, please contact museumdigitalcultures@gmail.com. Registrations for the conference are open until April 16th. You can also read more about this specific project (‘Please Touch! An inclusive art experience’) in ARCHES’ website.
Beyond disabilities: widening the inclusivity scope in Museums and cultural institutions (3/3).
The last topic to be addressed in this series of posts about inclusivity –and how museums and other cultural institutions hold a stake on it- is ageing. Ageing is one of the most transversal realities that societies have to face. The development of a welfare state in western societies implied an increase of life expectancy due to the implementation of retirement and other measurements related with health and wellbeing. The counterpart of this is that population from several countries are experiencing this phenomenon called ageing also due to extreme economic crises, putting young people on the position of not being able to settle nor have financial stability until older age. Biding these two acceptations, UNESCO defines “ageing of population” as a process in which the proportions of adults and elderly increase in a population, while the proportions of children and adolescents decrease. This process results in a rise in the median age of the population, this occurring when fertility rates decline while life expectancy remains constant or improves at the older ages.
This ageing of the population, together with a greater demand of time that working life requires of young people, means that the largest segment of population interested in occupying their free time is precisely the one that comprises adults aged 65 or over. Besides concerning about what to do with this free time, an aged population also implies other challenges like an increasing pressure in medical services. The stress put over “healthy ageing” means both physical and mental wellness, and beyond sport classes and outdoors activities, activities that involve learning and communicating become more and more important.
According to Charlotte Coates in her article ‘What is Active Ageing and how can Museums help?’ museums hold a whole host of information, hence becoming an ideal destination for mental stimulation further than a simple educational day out or a visit. Museums and cultural institutions must understand that not all older adults are the same, and they might have diverse needs. In these needs is where the two previous posts of this series come along: Not only people in current societies are getting older, they are also getting more diverse ethnically, sexually and affectively.
It is important to consider that there are migrant people also getting old in the places they arrived to years ago. Most of these people did not enjoy the new existing cultural, social and political policies, suffering from segregation and exclusion within the target societies. These people also need to gather and engage with others, communicate themselves and feeling part of the society they live in- whether because they feel older or because they haven’t been considered as leisure and culture enjoyers.
On the other hand, there are also issues with older adults and LGTBQIA+ communities. Some main references of the fight for equal rights are also getting older. Some other people haven’t explored their identity or their sexuality until very late years. Having safe spaces where these people still feel like they are part of the fight and part of the change movement should be one of the tasks that museums and cultural institutions could accomplish. There are also older adults that, on the contrary, are disrespectful or uncomprehensive with the LGBTQIA+ reality, and so cultural institutions reveal themselves as the best place of communication and encounter with this ‘other’, creating links between past, present and future, creating places of knowledge, of encounter, and of dialogue, promoting respect and tolerance, thus having both an educational and a social role.
There is one little thing more to be addressed in this post about ageing, being this that most of the vast writing that has been done about active ageing and museums comes from a western perspective. This has a lot to do with the fact that the majority of aged countries are those that have carried out colonial politics, these being most of the western countries and also the big powers of the Asia-Pacific region –even though this last region has not experienced ageing as much as western countries and it is a quite recent circumstance. This is the reason why most of the examples given in this post come from a European and Northern American context. If you, dear reader of this post, have other examples, from other regions, please share them with us, via a comment to this post, or an email to info@museumforall.eu.
Generally speaking, there are four points to keep in mind when talking about good practices in museums regarding engagement, participation and inclusivity of older adults: communication, participation, health care and creativity.
Starting with communication, most of the programs curated and presented by museums in order to engage older adults come from the side of memory and heritage. Having the knowledge and involvement of people that have experienced certain historical moments or decisive political changes in any exhibition enriches the historical and social perspective of it. This has a lot to do with communication. Involving older adults as participants in curation and divulgation for certain projects and exhibitions makes them an active part of what is going on, also strengthening the links between people and museums. This happened for examples in a collaboration between the University of the Third Age or U3A (an international movement based in the United Kingdom whose aims are the education and stimulation of mainly retired members of the community) and the Horniman Museum. This natural history museum created a researching project in 2011 that enabled the development of the museum’s collection to be better understood, and has ensured the contributions of people involved, being these students of the U3A and past curators, detailing their roles, backgrounds, and professional work while at the Museum.
Not by chance, the United Kingdom has been one of the most active countries when it comes to develop policies in order to face the challenges that an ageing population implies, also highlighting new opportunities that this segment of society can bring to enrich the experience of museums and galleries. The British Museum elaborated a very detailed guide of their actions together with the Age Friendly Museums Network.
Communication comes along with participation. The ethnological museum of Rumšiškės, near Kaunas Lagoon in Lithuania, is a good example of how older adults participate in activities that involve heritage, storytelling and traditional crafts. There has been some projects and exhibitions addressing topics such as the Nazi occupation together with lighter topics linked to other landmarks in the history of the country. The open-air museum of Lithuania is one of the largest ones in Europe and it’s very indicated for older adults, not just because it offers activities outdoors related with a healthier lifestyle, but also because their life experiences become important links to the organization of exhibitions and workshops, thus illustrating how older adults give invaluable contributions to society as first-hand witnesses of significant events and as carriers of invaluable intangible heritage.
However, museums should not oversee health care issues related with older adults, such as isolation and dementia. An example of fighting both was given by the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (National Gallery of Modern Art) in Rome, Italy. In collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of New York (USA) –which has a wide project on fighting Alzheimer and Dementia with art- the Galleria started a project called ‘The Memory of Beauty’. This initiative worked with ifferent groups formed by up to eight patients of Alzheimer or dementia who were driven through itineraries of four art pieces of the museum by a small team of educators and medical staff. These visits are planned as a cycle of activities in different days in order to help people to establish contact with others and with their personal memories. Other initiatives of museums against isolation can be found here.
Finally, I want to close this post with an example of how cultural actions can also emphasize and foster creativity within older adults. A good example was given by the Beltaine Festival in collaboration with Age & Opportunity, settled in Dublin, Ireland. The Beltaine Festival is a unique event in Europe and has received support from different organizations in order to promote active citizenship among older generations of Irish population. Its aims are to raise awareness about people’s capacity to grow and be creative in older ages, to let older adults participate meaningfully in the arts both as artist, organizers, audiences and critics, and to frame a national policy that acknowledge the potential of arts to transform the lives of older adults. More information about the examples given here of good practice regarding Ageing, museums and cultural institutions can be found in this link to the Learning Museum’s Project.
Summing up, there have been several points among these three posts that address inclusivity in a wider than disabilities scope. The usage of memory and active participation, encouraging people to create and to express themselves in safe spaces created by museums, acknowledging diverse people as potential guests, creators, visitors and critics, re-reading museums’ collections from their points of view, approaching artistic objects to different audiences by guided activities in collaboration with specialists, and also making diverse people participants –directly or indirectly- of the task of collecting are some strategies that lean on an educational agenda more than on a design one.
Applying some of these points could make a huge difference when it comes to make museums and cultural institutions more accessible and inclusive spaces, and from Museum for All we encourage all kinds of museums and organizations to care a bit more about diversity and about making connections between different people, now even more that we all have been pushed through difficult isolation times and connection means a lot more to us.
Rocío Sola, for the Museum For All blog, December 2020
ARCHES RESULTS IN EASY READ
ARCHES was a project for museums and lasted for three years.
ARCHES has brought together disabled people, technology companies, universities and museums.
The core of ARCHES were four participatory research groups.
They have been meeting in six museums, during more than two years.
Their experiences and suggestions have helped researchers develop new accessibility tools for museums.
Together, researchers and the groups have developed technological solutions.
For example, reliefs that you can touch.
Also, Apps and games for smartphones and tablets
And computer animations that use sign-language.
And also a handbook for museums in 3 languages.
The technologies have been co-designed and tested by more than 200 disabled people in Spain, Austria and the UK.
Tactile Multimedia Guide, called Please Touch (English Subtitles, but no Sign Language)!
ARCHES presentation video, with BSL.
Impact on the community:
People with different needs are organized in separate associations
They normally are segregated,
Not only from society, but among other groups with special needs as well
We brought them together
And treated them as experts in the matter of accessibility
Long lasting impact on how they see museums, and how museums see them.
Please visit the website https://www.arches-project.eu for more information.
Useful documents for museum accessibility in english, spanish and German
English:
Useful documents
Here we present a series of documents for use in cultural institutions that have been developed within the framework of the ARCHES project.
First, Towards a participatory museum, our How-to-Guide on inclusive activities. Written by Helena Garcia Carrizosa, Jara Diaz and Felicitas Sisinni, with Rotraut Krall, Anne Fay, Suzana Skrbic and Sarah Fairbairn, edited by Moritz Neumüller. This guide was printed in 2019, in English, Spanish and German, in an edition of 600 copies, as part of the dissemination of the ARCHES Project.
ISBN English 978-3-903312-00-5, Spanish 978-3-903312-01-2, German 978-3-903312-02-9.
To request a paper copy, please write to press@arches-project.eu.
Towards a participatory museum. A How-to-Guide on inclusive activities (5MB), also available in low resolution (1MB) and as a Word document.
Second, the document Ways of Working, a Guideline which was originally produced in 2016 to inform the development of participatory research groups in London, Vienna, Madrid and Oviedo for the ARCHES project. This is an adaptation that should serve as a guideline for comparable participatory research projects in the cultural field. Download Ways Of Working as PDF.
If you read Spanish, check out the Recomendaciones iniciales para trabajar con necesidades de accesibilidad (Initial Recommendations for Working with Accessibility Needs), a document created by the participants of the ARCHES project working group at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias. Available in Spanish, in PDF y HTML. ISBN: 978-3-903312-03-6.
Third, the game DISCOVER THE MUSEUM, created by the participants of the working group of the ARCHES project at the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias, available in PDF and Word. ISBN: 978-3-903312-04-3.
Fourth, the ARCHES manifesto, as text with pictograms and as video. (See different versions, made by the Vienna, Madrid and Oviedo groups, by changing the language of this page to Spanish and German).
Spanish:
Documentos útiles
Aquí presentamos una serie de documentos para el uso en instituciones culturales que se han elaborado en el marco del proyecto ARCHES.
Primero, Hacia un museo participativo, nuestra guía de actividades inclusivas. Escrita por Helena Garcia Carrizosa, Jara Diaz y Felicitas Sisinni, con Rotraut Krall, Anne Fay, Suzana Skrbic y Sarah Fairbairn, editado por Moritz Neumüller.
Esta guía se imprimió en 2019, en inglés, castellano y alemán, en una edición de 600 ejemplares, como parte de la difusión del Proyecto ARCHES.
ISBN inglés: 978-3-903312-00-5, ISBN español 978-3-903312-01-2, ISBN alemán 978-3-903312-02-9.
Disponible en formato PDF: Hacia un museo participativo. Una guía de actividades inclusivas. Formato PDF (Tamaño: 5MB). También disponible en baja resolución (1MB) y como documento word sin imágenes.
Para pedir una copia en papel, escríbanos a press@arches-project.eu.
Segundo, Recomendaciones iniciales para trabajar con necesidades de accesibilidad, un documento creado por los participantes del grupo de trabajo del proyecto ARCHES en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias, en PDF y HTML. ISBN: 978-3-903312-03-6
Tercero, el juego DESCUBRAMOS EL MUSEO, creado por los participantes del grupo de trabajo del proyecto ARCHES en el Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias. Disponible en PDF y Word. ISBN: 978-3-903312-04-3
Cuarto, el manifiesto ARCHES en forma de video, texto y pictogramas.
German:
Nützliche Dokumente
Hier stellen wir eine Reihe von Dokumenten für den Einsatz in kulturellen Institutionen vor, die im Rahmen des ARCHES-Projekts entwickelt wurden.
Erstens, Auf dem Weg zu einem partizipativen Museum, unser praktischer Ratgeber zur Gestaltung barrierefreier Aktivitäten. Geschrieben von Helena Garcia Carrizosa, Jara Diaz und Felicitas Sisinni, mit Rotraut Krall, Anne Fay, Suzana Skrbic und Sarah Fairbairn, herausgegeben von Moritz Neumüller.
Dieser Leitfaden wurde 2019 in englischer, spanischer und deutscher Sprache in einer Auflage von 600 Exemplaren im Rahmen der Verbreitung des ARCHES-Projekts gedruckt. Englischer ISBN: 978-3-903312-00-5, Spanischer ISBN: 978-3-903312-01-2, Deutscher ISBN: 978-3-903312-02-02-9.
Download: Auf dem Weg zu einem partizipativen Museum. Ein praktischer Ratgeber zur Gestaltung barrierefreier Aktivitäten (1MB), oder als Word Dokument ohne Bilder.
Bitte schreiben Sie an press@arches-project.eu um ein Exemplar zu bestellen.
Zweitens, Recomendaciones iniciales para trabajar con necesidades de accesibilidad (Erste Empfehlungen für die Arbeit mit Barrierefreiheit), ein Dokument, das von den Teilnehmern der ARCHES-Projektarbeitsgruppe im Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias erstellt wurde. ISBN: 978-3-903312-03-6.
Als spanisches PDF herunterladen oder als spanisches HTML ansehen. (Wir arbeiten an einer Übersetzung. Wenn Sie uns helfen wollen, schreiben Sie uns bitte an press@arches-project.eu).
Drittens, das Spiel DAS MUSEUM ENTDECKEN, das ebenfalls von den Teilnehmern der Arbeitsgruppe des ARCHES-Projekts im Museum für Bildende Kunst von Asturien erstellt wurde. Verfügbar als PDF und Word. ISBN: 978-3-903312-04-3.
Viertens, das Manifest der Wiener Forschungsgruppe, als Video und als Word, sowie die Präsentationsfolien der Abschlussveranstaltung im Kunsthistorischen Museum, am 3. Juni 2019, im PDF Format.
Results of the ARCHES Project now online
‘The visit to the museum should be a moment of learning, of discovery.’ (Eduardo, Madrid Exploration Group)
The aim of the ARCHES project was to work towards a museum for all. The consortium partners and participants wanted to challenge perceptions of inclusion and exclusion, moving beyond the notion of disability categories and working instead with people’s access preferences.
In this video, our British Sign Language avatar explains how ARCHES works. You can also see a more detailed version of this video and download the spoken text and a short description as a word document. The photographs in the video are by Sabine Gruber, one of the participants of the ARCHES research group in Vienna.
The results of our 3 year project are guidelines and publications, apps, multisensory materials, and games.
Some of the results can be consulted in the Technology section of the trilingual ARCHES webpage.
One of the highlights is Towards a participatory museum, the How-to-Guide on inclusive activities. Written by Helena Garcia Carrizosa, Jara Diaz and Felicitas Sisinni, with Rotraut Krall, Anne Fay, Suzana Skrbic and Sarah Fairbairn, edited by Moritz Neumüller. This guide was printed in 2019, in English, Spanish and German, in an edition of 600 copies, as part of the dissemination of the ARCHES Project.
ISBN English 978-3-903312-00-5, Spanish 978-3-903312-01-2, German 978-3-903312-02-9.
It is available in PDF for download. Towards a participatory museum. A How-to-Guide on inclusive activities (5MB), also available in low resolution (1MB) and as a Word document.
To request a paper copy, please write to press@arches-project.eu.
Furthermore, there are other useful documents for your own work with participatory research in museums, and a list of related academic publications.
You can also see the works of our participants, such as drawings, photos and videos, and the manifestos of the different groups.
In this video, it is our participants who explain how ARCHES works. You can download the spoken text and a short description of the video as a Word document. This video is in English with BSL translation. The same video is available in Spanish and German, with respective sign languages.
If you want to get in touch with ARCHES, please write to info@arches-project.eu.
Touching Art (Repost)
Why touching art is so tempting — and exciting. Repost from CNN.
Updated 13th May 2019
Marlen Komar, CNN
Imagine an empty gallery in a museum. It’s just you, a 200-year-old masterpiece and the quiet. The brush strokes of a Rembrandt painting draw you in, and with your hands behind your back, you lean in to study the colors and textures.
Looking sideways, you spot the security guard at the door, standing bored and inattentive. You could easily reach out your hand and steal a quick touch, rules be damned.
Fiona Candlin, a professor of museology at Birkbeck College in London and author of “Art, Museums, and Touch,” is all too familiar with these clandestine moments. She spent years investigating the motivations behind why visitors touch exhibits without permission, what they choose to touch, and how these unauthorized touches make them feel.
As it turns out, this type of rule-breaking is a common part of the museum-going experience. While she was observing unauthorized touching at the British Museum for a report published in The Senses and Society journal, a security guard told Candlin, “You stop a hundred people touching and there are 200 more … It’s like trying to turn back the sea.”
Closer inspection
Museums are often seen as sober places, where visitors are expected to silently walk from gallery to gallery and contemplate art from a distance. But Simon Hayhoe, a lecturer at the University of Bath who specializes in art education and disability, suggests we often want to close that distance and interact with works more intimately.
Solid gold toilet to land in English stately home
He links this to the original purpose of Renaissance artworks, which were hung inside churches to teach people about Bible stories. The pieces were hung in a way that created a sense of remoteness and reverence, and made the viewer feel like an outsider.
“What the church did was put the art out of reach. They never put it close to the people so they can stand in front of it. They were designed to be seen (up) high, and so people would look at them in awe and wonder,” Hayhoe explained in a phone interview.

“So there is a sense of power there as well. There is a sense of you are not allowed anywhere near this painting, because it’s imbued with God, it’s imbued with power, it’s imbued with something you’re never going to be close to.”
According to Candlin, there are numerous reasons why museum visitors are so tempted to touch art, one of which is classic empirical investigation — simply put, the desire to learn more.
“If you want to find out how finely a surface has been finished, or how two bits are joined together, or how deep an engraving is, the best way to find out is by touching it,” Candlin said in a phone interview.
“You want to know how something is made, you want to know what it’s made of, you want to try and get a sense of how it’s put together, and so you touch for those kinds of reasons.”
Part of that inspection is to confirm authenticity. “There can be a real blur between museums and experiences and theme parks and wax works. Often if you have really big objects on display — if you think about going into the Egyptian galleries in the British Museum or the Met. Some people can’t believe you would put real things on display without glass around them. They’re not quite sure and they figure if they touch it, they can make an assessment,” Candlin said.

Touching also has to do with playing with the art pieces on display — especially when it comes to statues of animals and humans. But because these figures aren’t real, museum-goers feel free to push boundaries, patting lion heads or groping naked bottoms. They’re making visual jokes and performing for both themselves and the people they are with.
In Candlin’s research, she found that the British Museum’s Lely Venus, a Roman statue of the goddess leaving her bath, had her behind cupped so often that the piece was put behind barriers.
An emotional connection
Standing in front of artwork also often evokes an emotional response. It’s not just about appreciating technique, Candlin explained, but thinking of the human element behind the work and wanting to connect with the person behind the genius.
“If something is made by a named artist, the museum goer wants to feel they have some connection with that named artist. Barbara Hepworth put her hand here and I’m now putting my hand here,” Candlin said.
“There is a sculpture by Hepworth at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (in England) where you can see her finger marks in it, and if people notice it they will often put their hand against her finger marks to give that sense of her hand and their hand meeting.”
While she doesn’t go so far as to suggest people break the rules the next time they’re at a museum, Candlin does believe touching is an important — and, unfortunately for security guards, inevitable — part of experiencing art.
“People aren’t just touching the ends of their fingers — they’re stroking things, they’re holding things, they’re mimicking,” she continued. “You’ve got to see touching as part of the continuum of ways in which people physically interact with objects.”
First ARCHES Workshop in Madrid, 13.6.2019, Lázaro Galdiano Museum.
The project ARCHES will organize a series of workshops with the objective to reach museum professionals in Europe and around the world. The first Workshop will take place in Spain on 13.6.2019, Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid
Germany: fall of 2019, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn
France, fall of 2019: Musée d’arts de Nantes
Italy, fall of 2019: TBC
Croatia and Slovenia, fall of 2019: TBC
These workshops will be accompanied by a 80 page handbook, published in three languages (German, English and Spanish) which will be both printed and distributed as a PDF and plain text through the ARCHES website.
First workshop: Towards a Participatory Museum: Inclusive Activities in Cultural Institutions
Workshop for Spanish and Iberoamerican museum professionals
13.6.2019, Lázaro Galdiano Museum, Madrid
Introduction
This workshop is the first in a series of events to disseminate the results of a three-year research within the framework of the ARCHES project.
The visit to the museum should be a time of learning, of discovery. Eduardo, ARCHES group Madrid
The workshop is based on our work with four participatory research groups in four European cities: London, Madrid, Oviedo and Vienna. Each of these participatory research groups included between fifteen and thirty-five people with a wide range of access preferences often associated with sensory and/or cognitive impairments.
Timetable
The workshop will be held on 13 June, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid.
How to participate
– The workshop is free and open to professionals working in Spanish and Ibero-American museums.
– Registration open until end of May
– Maximum 50 participants
– Registration by email, with Name, Surname, Affiliation, email, telephone
– Please indicate access needs and dietary requirements
– The workshop will be in Spanish. There will be translation in LSE, in case any participant needs it.
– Registration through email workshops@arches-project.eu
—–> Español / Spanish:
Taller ARCHES para profesionales de museos españoles e iberoamericanos
“Hacia un museo participativo: actividades inclusivas en instituciones culturales”
El taller “Hacia un museo participativo: actividades inclusivas en instituciones culturales” es el primero de una serie de eventos para difundir los resultados de una investigación de tres años en el marco del proyecto ARCHES. El objetivo del taller es compartir con los profesionales de los museos españoles e iberoamericanos lo que hemos aprendido en nuestro proyecto.
El taller se basa en el trabajo que hemos desarrollado junto a cuatro grupos de investigación participativa en cuatro ciudades europeas: Londres, Madrid, Oviedo y Viena. Cada uno de estos grupos de investigación participativa incluye entre quince y treinta y cinco personas con varias preferencias y necesidades de accesibilidad, a menudo asociadas a discapacidades sensoriales y/o cognitivas.
Los contenidos de este taller reflejan, sobre todo, las experiencias con los grupos en el Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, el Museo Lázaro Galdiano y el Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias.
- FECHA: jueves 13 de junio de 2019
- HORA: de 9 a 17 horas
- Actividad GRATUITA
- Inscripción abierta de abril a mayo
- Inscripción en workshops@arches-project.eu
- Inscripciones con nombre, apellidos, afiliación, email y teléfono
- Por favor, indicar necesidades de acceso y requerimientos dietéticos
- Máximo 50 participantes
- Taller en español. Habrá traducción en LSE
- Para más información visite www.arches-project.eu
- LUGAR: Museo Lázaro Galdiano. Calle Serrano 122 (Madrid)
Planteamiento del taller
ARCHES es un proyecto europeo que busca hacer los museos más accesibles para todos a través de tecnologías y una metodología participativa. Gracias al apoyo de la Unión Europea, ARCHES ha reunido a personas con discapacidad, empresas tecnológicas, universidades y museos. Junto a los grupos participativos hemos desarrollado y probado soluciones tecnológicas durante tres años.
Cada grupo ARCHES realizó su propia investigación, teniendo en cuenta los intereses de los participantes y las condiciones del propio museo. La experiencia de todos ellos nos ha permitido desarrollar materiales y recursos tecnológicos que facilitan el acceso a nuestras colecciones.
En este taller vamos a compartir nuestras principales experiencias y aprendizajes: la metodología que utilizamos, cómo hemos preparado un proyecto como este y algunas actividades inclusivas que hemos hecho para explorar el museo y nuestras capacidades.
Compartiremos ejemplos de las actividades que han funcionado y las que no. Este evento se complementará con una serie de talleres en museos europeos durante el otoño e invierno y un evento final en Madrid, el 7 de noviembre del 2019 (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Será en el marco de estos eventos en los que se presentarán las soluciones tecnológicas y algunos de los proyectos de los participantes de los grupos de ARCHES.
Horarios
Primera sesión, 9 – 10:30 h:
- Introducción a ARCHES
- Romper barreras del concepto de discapacidad
Pausa
Segunda sesión, 11 – 12 h:
- Cómo organizar un proyecto: compartiendo experiencias
Pausa
Tercera sesión, 12:30 – 13:30:
- Planificación y modelos de trabajo
- Actividades inclusivas
Clausura 13:30 – 14:00
- Clausura del taller
15:30 – 17 h
- Visita inclusiva al museo (opcional)
El proyecto ARCHES
Nuestro objetivo es crear entornos culturales más inclusivos para las personas con discapacidad sensorial y/o cognitiva mediante un proceso de investigación que conduce al desarrollo y la validación de funcionalidades, aplicaciones y experiencias innovadoras a partir de la reutilización de recursos digitales.
ARCHES se basa en tres puntos esenciales: una metodología participativa de investigación, la reutilización de los recursos digitales existentes y el desarrollo de tecnologías innovadoras.
Obviamente, ARCHES no es el primer proyecto sobre accesibilidad en museos, ni el único. Colaboramos con otros proyectos y redes internacionales, con la finalidad de crear sinergias en el campo de la inclusión y accesibilidad a la cultura.
- Contacto para los talleres de ARCHES: Moritz Neumüller, +34-605641118, press@arches-project.eu
Equipo
Helena García Carrizosa es una Investigadora del proyecto ARCHES. Helena trabaja cerca en conjunto con los diferentes museos y con los grupos participativos para probar y evaluar las diferentes tecnologías. Al ser ella misma discapacitada, tiene una experiencia personal de primera mano de los obstáculos y dificultades a los que se enfrentan las personas con deficiencias sensoriales en el día a día, especialmente en el sector de los museos. Anteriormente, Helena trabajó en diferentes museos y galerías internacionales, como el Peggy Guggenheim Collection de Venecia, la National Gallery de Londres y el Völkerkunde Museum de Hamburgo. Tiene dos maestrías, una en Historia del Arte, Cultura Renacentista y Curaduría del Warburg Institute de Londres y la otra en Educación en Museos y Galerías del UCL-Instituto de Educación.
Jara Díaz Alberola es Responsable del proyecto ARCHES en el Museo Lázaro Galdiano desde 2016. Estudió Historia del Arte en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) y Máster en Art Museum and Gallery Studies en la University of Leicester en Inglaterra. Especialista en educación por la Universitat de Valencia y la Universidad Complutense y en Gestión Cultural por la UOC. Tiene más de diez años de experiencia como educadora de museos y gestora cultural. Ha trabajado para diversas instituciones en España y Reino Unido como Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow y CaixaForum. Ha coordinado diversos proyectos culturales, sociales y educativos y ha impartido numerosos cursos y conferencias sobre arte, educación y accesibilidad.
Elena Aparicio Mainar ha sido coordinadora de Accesibilidad del Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, del Museo Picasso Málaga y actualmente coordina el proyecto ARCHES en el Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Es historiadora del arte por la Universitat Rovira i Virgili de Tarragona, museóloga y gestora cultural por la Universitat de Barcelona, especialista en educación de museos por instituciones como el MoMA de Nueva York o el Museum of Fine Arts de Boston (MFA) y en accesibilidad educativa y cultural por la UNIA y diversas entidades especializadas, como Fundación ONCE o Cooperativa Altavoz. Desde 1995 ha creado programas curatoriales, educativos y sociales donde se promueve la participación activa y la inclusión efectiva a través del arte en proyectos y entidades nacionales e internacionales.
Felicitas Sisinni es educadora del Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, donde coordina el grupo de investigación del proyecto ARCHES. Tras finalizar sus estudios de Periodismo e Historia del Arte en Madrid, realizó un máster en Educación en Museos en el Institute of Education (UCL) de Londres. Ha trabajado como educadora y gestora cultural en diferentes instituciones culturales de Europa y África, y continúa investigando sobre la creación de experiencias significativas para aumentar el acceso y la inclusión. Actualmente está en baja por maternidad y regresará en septiembre.
Moritz Neumüller (Linz, Austria, 1972) vive y trabaja como comisario independiente en Barcelona. Se ha licenciado en dos carreras, Historia del Arte y Economía, y tiene un doctorado interdisciplinar sobre nuevos medios de la Universidad de Viena. Ha trabajado para instituciones como el Museum of Modern Art en Nueva York, y fue ahí donde vio por primera vez una Touch Tour para visitantes invidentes. Diez años más tarde, Neumüller creó sus propios proyectos para abrir el arte a un amplio público, incluyendo las personas con deficiencias sensoriales y cognitivas. Este empeño en facilitar el acceso a la cultura y el conocimiento para todos se refleja en la iniciativa ArteConTacto, y el proyecto MUSEUM FOR ALL. Desde 2016, es director de comunicación del proyecto ARCHES.
CONFERENCE The Museum for All People: April 2-5, 2019
The Museum for All People:
Art, Accessibility and Social Inclusion
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Madrid, April 2-5, 2019
The MUSACCES Consortium (UCM-UNED-AUM) cordially invites you to participate in the International Conference «The Museum for all people: art, accessibility and social inclusion», that will be held on April 2-5, 2019, in the city of Madrid.
The conference aims to provide a forum for exchange and debate among museum managers, professors, researchers, artists, students and cultural practitioners regarding improving access in art museums to all people, regardless of any specific needs they may have.
Participation in the conference will be open to contributions via a Call for papers. Moreover, the conference will have breakup sessions, specific seminars, concurrent activities and will feature internationally renowned speakers.
This International Conference seeks to become a forum for reflection on the conceptual problems in the definition of the museum for all. We are confident that the overlap between intellectual interdisciplinary borders (art history, cultural heritage, museology, art criticism, aesthetics, communication, education, tourism, technology, preservation and restoration, etc.) will allow us to propose strategies for cultural action devised to expand accessibility in the museum to all people.
Key Dates
15
February 2019
abstract submission
deadline
18
February 2019
abstracts acceptance notification
28
February 2019
early registration
deadline
2
April 2019
Museum For All Blog 