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Selective Sensory Art Exhibit

Client:

Art Gallery of Ontario

OCAD University

Canadian National Institue for the Blind

Brief:

Working with blind and visually impaired stakeholders to design meaningful selective-sensory interpretations of artworks at the AGO. Some people call this "multi-sensory" but I prefer "selective-sensory," because it suggests that the user is able choose the sensory input they prefer.

Role:

  • Inclusive Designer and Researcher
  • Co-design facilitator
  • Maker - Arduino, Wood
a newspaper with an article about this artwork design

Toronto Star Coverage

Exhibit featured in the Toronto Star, print and digital editions.

Read the article

a painting of a a man and a small animal in a damp meadow with a storm in the background

How Might We?

How might visual arts spaces engage and welcome non-visual individuals

Our goal was to uncover how this specific painting could be experienced by blind museum goers.

Narcisse Virgile de la Pena Diaz
born Bordeaux, France, 1807; died Menton, France, 1876
The Storm
oil on canvas
85.1 x 107.6 cm

a boardroom table with designers at work and design supplies a boardroom table with designers at work and design supplies a boardroom table with designers at work and design supplies a boardroom table with designers at work and design supplies inside of an umbrella a folded umbrella

Co-Design

Recruited a team of inclusive of blind and visually impaired art afficonados, museum docents, and artists.

Methods:

  • Co-design
  • Wizard of Oz Roleplay
  • Sketching
  • Graphic Brainstorming
  • 3D-Modelling

Findings

  • "No Touching" assumption in galleries
  • Tactile, olfactory, and auditory feedback needs
  • Museum attendance goals vary by individual

    • intimate time with a friend or loved one
    • art appreciation
    • decompressing alone

  • Value of art defined in multiple ways

    • what it means to self
    • what it means to others
    • colour, compositon, intention, form, history, etc
a sketch of a an art exhitbit friendly to wheelchairs and bling users, with feeback from sight, sound, feel, and smell a wiring diagram sketch of umbrella on a stand an of umbrella on a wooden stand

Prototype

Goals to include:

  • Invite interaction with "auto on" function
  • Vibration
  • Sound
  • Lights
  • Smells

Methods:

  • Wiring Diagram
  • Arduino "squid" testing

Description:

The electronics feature a motion sensor to turn the exhibit and play the soundtrack when someone arrives. Vibration motors and flashing lights are triggered by the sountrack and user holding the umbrella.

a man standing under an umbrella, indoors, a blanket is around the umbrella a man standing under an umbrella, indoors, a blanket is around the umbrella

Results:

  • Invite interaction with "auto on" function
  • Vibration
  • Sound
  • Lights
  • Smells

Why No Pictures?

Frankly, we had no idea of the reception and buzz this would generate. We were pleased but surprised to see it picked up on the news and draw the public's attention. Please enjoy this video of the system prototype in operation.

Credits:

  • Eric Forest (design, fabrication, electronics, research)
  • Alisha Kamran (design, reserach)
  • Amanda Austin (design, reserach)
  • Jad Rabbaa (design, reserach)

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