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Excellent article on a touring tactile art exhibit from the Louvre
Kes: As this article points out, Western culture tends to think of all art as visual, even that which specifically seems to invite touch, such as sculpture. I'm intrigued by the idea that blind people should come to an artwork with no background information though--I'm not sure I get the justification for this.
A feel for art
Natasha Wong
Friday, December 31, 2010
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=36&art_id=106577&sid=30777379&con_type=1&d_str=20101231
Auguste Rodin, the French genius in modeling human forms, often referred to his sculptures as une affaire de creux et de bosses - a case of hollows and bumps.
Despite the fact that art, especially sculpture, has a tactile quality, museum displays often come with a huge Do Not Touch sign.
But not at the Touching Art: Louvres Sculptures in Movement exhibition now on an Asian tour to Hong Kong. You are encouraged to appreciate art by touching and running your hands around it.
Endorsed by the Tactile Gallery at the Louvre Museum in Paris, the exhibition is on view at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
The Tactile Gallery, opened in 1995, is targeted mainly at the blind and visually impaired. It is the only space in the Louvre where visitors can touch artworks with their hands with no stop signs, no guards or alarms.
The gallery is open to all with guided tours on weekends, during which sighted visitors can explore with blindfolds on.
The Tactile Gallery is an unique project it is in a general museum which is open to the public, says Cyrille Gouyette, the head of artistic education at
the Louvre. That distinguishes it from the Museo Tiflologico in Madrid, Museo Tattile Omero in Ancona, Tactile Museum in Athens and the Typhlological Museum in Zagreb.
The traveling exhibition features 18 replicas of famous sculptures and reliefs from the Louvre, dating from 200BC to the 19th century.
The original sculptures were read by 3D laser and the replicas created from resin or plaster, finished to look like either marble or bronze.
Along with adaptive media such as audio guides and braille signs, guide dogs for the blind are also allowed in.
Incorporating a gallery for the blind and visually impaired is a very good way to raise public awareness toward the interests of people with disabilities, Gouyette says.
An environment that allows people with different needs to mingle empowers one to think of the equal rights of all to appreciate art.
More than six decades ago, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 27 of the declaration states: Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
But not for the blind, it would seem, as most museums allow us to appreciate art with only our eyes and not our sense of touch.
This exhibition aims to break that taboo.
Gouyette says: For people who are not familiar with the sense of touching artworks, it is always good to start with discovering the shape of a work without reading any background information. This will ensure objectivity.
In this exhibition, we celebrate the noblest thing in the world, which is the human body. It is always useful for the blind or visually impaired to return back to their bodies as reference point when exploring these human sculptures.
The most famous of the exhibits is the Venus de Milo, one of the most copied sculptures in the world.
The sculpture employs the Greek artistry of injecting elements of movement such as adding drapery and designing a weight-shifting pose.
Because of this, the armless statue looks light and almost ethereal from a distance.
But, Gouyette says, our eyes deceive us.
Venus was a goddess. So the statue was most likely to have been placed in a temple originally, and meant to be seen from afar.
But when we confront the Venus de Milo with our hands, we can feel it is divided into two large blocks the top naked and the bottom wrapped.
The size of the sculpture is bigger than an actual human body. For the blind, the change of scale may cause confusion.
Unlike seeing, when we touch we are immediately confronted with real shapes.
Using only our hands, we may perceive the sculpture as a strong woman with very massive shoulders, he says.
When the fingers travel down to the drapery, our touch may fail to inform us that it is supposedly a smooth, malleable fabric that we are touching.
It may not be able to capture the visual movement caused by the drapery.
That said, when our fingers experience the vitality of a sculptured physique, our minds are in tune with that of the artist.
After all, it is the touch of the artists hands that breathes life into dead marble.
Touching Art: Louvres Sculptures in Movement is being held until February 20 at the Contemporary Hong Kong Art Gallery, 2/F, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Tsim Sha Tsui.
A feel for art
Natasha Wong
Friday, December 31, 2010
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=36&art_id=106577&sid=30777379&con_type=1&d_str=20101231
Auguste Rodin, the French genius in modeling human forms, often referred to his sculptures as une affaire de creux et de bosses - a case of hollows and bumps.
Despite the fact that art, especially sculpture, has a tactile quality, museum displays often come with a huge Do Not Touch sign.
But not at the Touching Art: Louvres Sculptures in Movement exhibition now on an Asian tour to Hong Kong. You are encouraged to appreciate art by touching and running your hands around it.
Endorsed by the Tactile Gallery at the Louvre Museum in Paris, the exhibition is on view at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
The Tactile Gallery, opened in 1995, is targeted mainly at the blind and visually impaired. It is the only space in the Louvre where visitors can touch artworks with their hands with no stop signs, no guards or alarms.
The gallery is open to all with guided tours on weekends, during which sighted visitors can explore with blindfolds on.
The Tactile Gallery is an unique project it is in a general museum which is open to the public, says Cyrille Gouyette, the head of artistic education at
the Louvre. That distinguishes it from the Museo Tiflologico in Madrid, Museo Tattile Omero in Ancona, Tactile Museum in Athens and the Typhlological Museum in Zagreb.
The traveling exhibition features 18 replicas of famous sculptures and reliefs from the Louvre, dating from 200BC to the 19th century.
The original sculptures were read by 3D laser and the replicas created from resin or plaster, finished to look like either marble or bronze.
Along with adaptive media such as audio guides and braille signs, guide dogs for the blind are also allowed in.
Incorporating a gallery for the blind and visually impaired is a very good way to raise public awareness toward the interests of people with disabilities, Gouyette says.
An environment that allows people with different needs to mingle empowers one to think of the equal rights of all to appreciate art.
More than six decades ago, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 27 of the declaration states: Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
But not for the blind, it would seem, as most museums allow us to appreciate art with only our eyes and not our sense of touch.
This exhibition aims to break that taboo.
Gouyette says: For people who are not familiar with the sense of touching artworks, it is always good to start with discovering the shape of a work without reading any background information. This will ensure objectivity.
In this exhibition, we celebrate the noblest thing in the world, which is the human body. It is always useful for the blind or visually impaired to return back to their bodies as reference point when exploring these human sculptures.
The most famous of the exhibits is the Venus de Milo, one of the most copied sculptures in the world.
The sculpture employs the Greek artistry of injecting elements of movement such as adding drapery and designing a weight-shifting pose.
Because of this, the armless statue looks light and almost ethereal from a distance.
But, Gouyette says, our eyes deceive us.
Venus was a goddess. So the statue was most likely to have been placed in a temple originally, and meant to be seen from afar.
But when we confront the Venus de Milo with our hands, we can feel it is divided into two large blocks the top naked and the bottom wrapped.
The size of the sculpture is bigger than an actual human body. For the blind, the change of scale may cause confusion.
Unlike seeing, when we touch we are immediately confronted with real shapes.
Using only our hands, we may perceive the sculpture as a strong woman with very massive shoulders, he says.
When the fingers travel down to the drapery, our touch may fail to inform us that it is supposedly a smooth, malleable fabric that we are touching.
It may not be able to capture the visual movement caused by the drapery.
That said, when our fingers experience the vitality of a sculptured physique, our minds are in tune with that of the artist.
After all, it is the touch of the artists hands that breathes life into dead marble.
Touching Art: Louvres Sculptures in Movement is being held until February 20 at the Contemporary Hong Kong Art Gallery, 2/F, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Tsim Sha Tsui.