As part of the legacy for the Sensing Culture project, Simon Hayhoe worked with us to launch the 'Community of Practice' for Sensing Culture. It will encourage the heritage sector, academics and blind and partially sighted people to work together to further continue, develop, and widen the impact of the project. Simon’s highly reputed work has broken down assumptions that people who are blind or partially sighted cannot understand the visual arts. In his keynote, he will explain why visual arts experiences shouldn't be limited to people with full sight. He will reveal what blind and partially sighted people are able to experience with visual art, and the effects of vision loss or no vision on a cultural identity in art

Hayhoe, Simon

English

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        Citation for published version:Hayhoe, S 2018, Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums, 2: Key note presentation. in Sensing CultureConference. London, Sensing Culture Conference, London, UK United Kingdom, 30/04/18.Publication date:2018Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publicationUniversity of BathAlternative formatsIf you require this document in an alternative format, please contact:openaccess@bath.ac.ukGeneral rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Download date: 05. Jul. 2024SENSING CULTURE CONFERENCE,TUESDAY 1ST MAY 2018Trinity HouseTrinity SquareTower HillLondon EC3N 4DH United KingdomAcknowledgement: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693229 – Appendix A.BLIND VISITOR EXPERIENCES AT ART MUSEUMSSimon HayhoeUniversity of Bath,Somerset, UKTHE PROBLEM WE FACEMany influential contemporary studies focus on the perception of objects and “real things,” such as perception and visual imageryThey do not examine: the nature of cultural practice the motivation for creative and imaginative activitywhy art is important to people who are blindHayhoe, S. (2017) Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.GOMBRICH ON VISUAL ART AS NATURAL LAW “Art educators sometimes try to make us feel guilty for our failure to use our eyes and to pay attention to the riches spread out before us. No doubt they are occasionally right, but their structures do little justice to the difference between seeing, looking, attending and reading, on which all art must rely.” (P. 95)Gombrich, E. (1984). The sense of order: Studies in the psychology of decorative art. London: Phaidon Press.BOURDIEU ON MUSEUMS AS NATURAL LAW“I wanted to be able to tell myself I’d done the museum, it was very monotonous, one picture after another. They ought to put something different in between the paintings to break it up a bit.” (engineer, Amiens, aged 39, Lille Museum). These comments are reminiscent of those of the conservator of the New York Metropolitan Museum, who sees his museum as “a gymnasium in which the visitor is able to develop his eye muscles.” (P. 269)Bourdieu, P. (2010). Distinction. London: Routledge Classics.REVESZ’S STUDY ON ARTS AND BLINDNESS AS NATURAL LAW“[From] what sources could a blind person, who has never seen the world with all its wealth of forms and color, derive those manifold experiences?... [No] one born blind is able to become aware of the diversity of nature and to apprehend all the rich and various appearances of objects.” (pp. 316–17)Revesz, G. (1950). Psychology and art of the blind. London: Longmans, Green.NAGEL, ON WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BATOne might try, for example, to develop concepts that could be used to explain to a person blind from birth what it was like to see. One would reach a blank wall eventually, but it should be possible to devise a method of expressing in objective terms much more than we can at present, and with much greater precision.Nagel, T. (1974). What Is It Like to Be a Bat? The Philosophical Review, 83(4), 435-450WHAT CAN A PERSON WHO HAS NEVER SEEN UNDERSTAND?What can a person with no visual experience ESREF ARMAGAN: A PAINTER BORN TOTALLY BLINDEsref is a Turkish man, who was born without function in his eyes.  He has no what we would think of as visual imagination or experience.IMAGES CREATED BY ESREF ARMAGANWhat are usually thought of as visual constructs used in these paintings:• Colour• Foreshortening• Shade/shadowEsref’s paintings are created by touch.• He paints with UPVC paint or oils• The paintings are created through Esref’s fingers• Esref works alone, through memoryHOW DID ESREF LEARN TO DRAW AND PAINT?•He was not sent to school – it was unusual for blind children from his area of Turkey to attend school’s for the blind•He was not told he could not draw or paint•He became bored and asked people what was around him•He drew items on card to understand them•Drawing on card gave him a tactile line, he could use to understand lines and visual concepts•He asked people about the visual elements of the things that he drew•He incorporates these visual elements into his drawings•He was told about colour, shade and foreshortening•He began to incorporate these into his paintings and imagesSO, WHAT CAN ESREF TEACH US ABOUT UNDERSTANDING ARTLanguage and perceptionESREF’S PAINTINGS AND UNDERSTANDING IMAGERY•We can understand the world around us without recourse to vision•Esref can create the highest level of understanding, creativity, and reproduce images that can be understood•Esref therefore intellectually understand what image reproduction is•Esref’s consciousness is related to his memory and encoded in language•Esref’s understanding of objects was through pattern development coded in languageCARMICHAEL: NAMING & REMEMBERING IMAGESCarmichael, L., Hogan, H.P. & Walter, A.A. (1932). An experimental study of the effect of language on the reproduction of visually perceived forms. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 15:73-86HARTLEY: DISCOURSE & THE REPRODUCTION OF IMAGESHartley, J. (1992). Communicating diagrams orally. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 10(1):37-38.CASE STUDY: CARMENA sighted verbal imaging teacher at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US(Hayhoe, 2017).CARMEN: TEACHER AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM•She was an art historian by training, and had studied for a PhD, but never completed•Teaching thirty years at the Met – since 1981•Taught people who were blind and visually impaired for between 20-25 yearsCARMEN: CHALLENGES TO HER SOCIAL NORMSCarmen: The first person I taught was totally blind. And I fell in love with the way of teaching. I was not supposed to be doing it. I was a lecturer and I was asked to show up to guide somebody who was blind, and they asked me if I would go. And I never forget the first picture I [described], it was a Rubens. It was a picture of himself, his wife and his child. And to me it was a miracle, because the person was totally blind and they started asking me questions.  And I realised that I was looking at the picture for the first time…Me: Were they asking about colour?Carmen: Colours, brush work, and parts of the picture – and this is a picture that I know very well because it is right in my field, 17th Century – they would ask me things and I would say “it is a nice day,” and then they would say “so the sky is blue, or it has a few clouds” and I would tell myself that I had never seen the clouds before.CARMEN: EXPERIENCE OF VERBAL IMAGING FOR PEOPLE WITH LATER VISUAL IMPAIRMENTSMe: So later blind people, what kind of things will they say [referring to older people who have lost their sight]? …Carmen: I find them very different. Many of the people who come to the museum who have macular degeneration, I find that they want to almost imprint the picture into their minds… I had this wonderful woman, who we’d worked with her for years and years, and she was always making photos of art. Everything [was] perfect, so she would say, “Do I remember well that the flowers are on the work? Were the flowers really pink like I remember?”CARMEN: THE PARTICULARITIES OF LANGUAGE  Me: Is there a difference between the questions a person who is blind will ask you and a person with sight will ask you, beyond [the questions of perception]Carmen: [People with sight] have much lower expectations. People with sight, they don’t see anything. With people with sight we tell them, “Stop!” …Me: For [people who are blind] is it more about the technical aspects of the painting, the historical era, the setting?Carmen: I find that there is a combination… Different people, who are sighted and blind, are interested in different things... I just don’t see much difference to be honest with you.ARCHES: PEOPLE WITH MIXED ACCESS NEEDS•People with access needs attend sessions•Sessions started in London in 2017, and continued in Spain and Austria in 2018•All those who take part are counted as participants•Sessions attempt to develop a community, and each participant is given a voiceThis project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693229 –Appendix AMATERIALS USED WITH ALL MEMBERSComparison between the tactile imageand the drawing resulted fromaudiodescribing it.Materials used for the audiodescriptionactivity: black paper, tactile image and blooklet for notes.VERBAL IMAGING WORKS FOR ALL VISITORSA participant showing the comparisonbetween a picture and the drawingresulting from audiodescriptionGroup of participants works together in anaudiodescription activityCONCLUSIONS Secondary Findings – Passive Inclusion in the MuseumTHREE PRIMARY CONCLUSIONS •Previous literature has focused too heavily on the understanding that inclusion in the museum is premised primarily on touch, and therefore “purely” visual concepts cannot be understood•Case studies show our focus on perception alone is wrong: concepts are not specific to inherent knowledge or individual perceptions•People should be included in all aspects of visual culture no matter what level of sight, with an understanding that they are capable of developing understanding through language and environmentQUESTIONS1. “From your research could you offer 3 main areas of improvement that would allow blind and partially sighted people to enjoy the visual arts even more?”I. MOST IMPORTANT: Being exposed to museums from a very early age, preferably with familiesII. If possible, having alternative perceptual input, such as touch – at least having proximity to an artworkIII. Being able to have a full – preferably through discourse – discussion about individual pieces 2. “I agree with Simon’s premise that there is a widely held assumption that blind people cannot understand the visual or plastic arts. I think that this assumption is also held by a lot of blind people themselves. If he agrees how does Simon think that this erroneous assumption can best be tackled?”I. I agree, and have seen it in personII. The only way is to get people through the door, this is the hardest partIII. After this, things become easier. Not easy, but easier. Verbal imaging and touch sessions have achieved very interesting transformations in my experience.APPENDIX A

Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums, 2:Key note presentation

        Citation for published version:Hayhoe, S 2018, Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums, 2: Key note presentation. in Sensing CultureConference. London, Sensing Culture Conference, London, UK United Kingdom, 30/04/18.Publication date:2018Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publicationUniversity of BathGeneral rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Download date: 23. Jan. 2020SENSING CULTURE CONFERENCE,TUESDAY 1ST MAY 2018Trinity HouseTrinity SquareTower HillLondon EC3N 4DH United KingdomAcknowledgement: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693229 – Appendix A.BLIND VISITOR EXPERIENCES AT ART MUSEUMSSimon HayhoeUniversity of Bath,Somerset, UKTHE PROBLEM WE FACEMany influential contemporary studies focus on the perception of objects and “real things,” such as perception and visual imageryThey do not examine: the nature of cultural practice the motivation for creative and imaginative activitywhy art is important to people who are blindHayhoe, S. (2017) Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.GOMBRICH ON VISUAL ART AS NATURAL LAW “Art educators sometimes try to make us feel guilty for our failure to use our eyes and to pay attention to the riches spread out before us. No doubt they are occasionally right, but their structures do little justice to the difference between seeing, looking, attending and reading, on which all art must rely.” (P. 95)Gombrich, E. (1984). The sense of order: Studies in the psychology of decorative art. London: Phaidon Press.BOURDIEU ON MUSEUMS AS NATURAL LAW“I wanted to be able to tell myself I’d done the museum, it was very monotonous, one picture after another. They ought to put something different in between the paintings to break it up a bit.” (engineer, Amiens, aged 39, Lille Museum). These comments are reminiscent of those of the conservator of the New York Metropolitan Museum, who sees his museum as “a gymnasium in which the visitor is able to develop his eye muscles.” (P. 269)Bourdieu, P. (2010). Distinction. London: Routledge Classics.REVESZ’S STUDY ON ARTS AND BLINDNESS AS NATURAL LAW“[From] what sources could a blind person, who has never seen the world with all its wealth of forms and color, derive those manifold experiences?... [No] one born blind is able to become aware of the diversity of nature and to apprehend all the rich and various appearances of objects.” (pp. 316–17)Revesz, G. (1950). Psychology and art of the blind. London: Longmans, Green.NAGEL, ON WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BATOne might try, for example, to develop concepts that could be used to explain to a person blind from birth what it was like to see. One would reach a blank wall eventually, but it should be possible to devise a method of expressing in objective terms much more than we can at present, and with much greater precision.Nagel, T. (1974). What Is It Like to Be a Bat? The Philosophical Review, 83(4), 435-450WHAT CAN A PERSON WHO HAS NEVER SEEN UNDERSTAND?What can a person with no visual experience ESREF ARMAGAN: A PAINTER BORN TOTALLY BLINDEsref is a Turkish man, who was born without function in his eyes.  He has no what we would think of as visual imagination or experience.IMAGES CREATED BY ESREF ARMAGANWhat are usually thought of as visual constructs used in these paintings:• Colour• Foreshortening• Shade/shadowEsref’s paintings are created by touch.• He paints with UPVC paint or oils• The paintings are created through Esref’s fingers• Esref works alone, through memoryHOW DID ESREF LEARN TO DRAW AND PAINT?•He was not sent to school – it was unusual for blind children from his area of Turkey to attend school’s for the blind•He was not told he could not draw or paint•He became bored and asked people what was around him•He drew items on card to understand them•Drawing on card gave him a tactile line, he could use to understand lines and visual concepts•He asked people about the visual elements of the things that he drew•He incorporates these visual elements into his drawings•He was told about colour, shade and foreshortening•He began to incorporate these into his paintings and imagesSO, WHAT CAN ESREF TEACH US ABOUT UNDERSTANDING ARTLanguage and perceptionESREF’S PAINTINGS AND UNDERSTANDING IMAGERY•We can understand the world around us without recourse to vision•Esref can create the highest level of understanding, creativity, and reproduce images that can be understood•Esref therefore intellectually understand what image reproduction is•Esref’s consciousness is related to his memory and encoded in language•Esref’s understanding of objects was through pattern development coded in languageCARMICHAEL: NAMING & REMEMBERING IMAGESCarmichael, L., Hogan, H.P. & Walter, A.A. (1932). An experimental study of the effect of language on the reproduction of visually perceived forms. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 15:73-86HARTLEY: DISCOURSE & THE REPRODUCTION OF IMAGESHartley, J. (1992). Communicating diagrams orally. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 10(1):37-38.CASE STUDY: CARMENA sighted verbal imaging teacher at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US(Hayhoe, 2017).CARMEN: TEACHER AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM•She was an art historian by training, and had studied for a PhD, but never completed•Teaching thirty years at the Met – since 1981•Taught people who were blind and visually impaired for between 20-25 yearsCARMEN: CHALLENGES TO HER SOCIAL NORMSCarmen: The first person I taught was totally blind. And I fell in love with the way of teaching. I was not supposed to be doing it. I was a lecturer and I was asked to show up to guide somebody who was blind, and they asked me if I would go. And I never forget the first picture I [described], it was a Rubens. It was a picture of himself, his wife and his child. And to me it was a miracle, because the person was totally blind and they started asking me questions.  And I realised that I was looking at the picture for the first time…Me: Were they asking about colour?Carmen: Colours, brush work, and parts of the picture – and this is a picture that I know very well because it is right in my field, 17th Century – they would ask me things and I would say “it is a nice day,” and then they would say “so the sky is blue, or it has a few clouds” and I would tell myself that I had never seen the clouds before.CARMEN: EXPERIENCE OF VERBAL IMAGING FOR PEOPLE WITH LATER VISUAL IMPAIRMENTSMe: So later blind people, what kind of things will they say [referring to older people who have lost their sight]? …Carmen: I find them very different. Many of the people who come to the museum who have macular degeneration, I find that they want to almost imprint the picture into their minds… I had this wonderful woman, who we’d worked with her for years and years, and she was always making photos of art. Everything [was] perfect, so she would say, “Do I remember well that the flowers are on the work? Were the flowers really pink like I remember?”CARMEN: THE PARTICULARITIES OF LANGUAGE  Me: Is there a difference between the questions a person who is blind will ask you and a person with sight will ask you, beyond [the questions of perception]Carmen: [People with sight] have much lower expectations. People with sight, they don’t see anything. With people with sight we tell them, “Stop!” …Me: For [people who are blind] is it more about the technical aspects of the painting, the historical era, the setting?Carmen: I find that there is a combination… Different people, who are sighted and blind, are interested in different things... I just don’t see much difference to be honest with you.ARCHES: PEOPLE WITH MIXED ACCESS NEEDS•People with access needs attend sessions•Sessions started in London in 2017, and continued in Spain and Austria in 2018•All those who take part are counted as participants•Sessions attempt to develop a community, and each participant is given a voiceThis project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 693229 –Appendix AMATERIALS USED WITH ALL MEMBERSComparison between the tactile imageand the drawing resulted fromaudiodescribing it.Materials used for the audiodescriptionactivity: black paper, tactile image and blooklet for notes.VERBAL IMAGING WORKS FOR ALL VISITORSA participant showing the comparisonbetween a picture and the drawingresulting from audiodescriptionGroup of participants works together in anaudiodescription activityCONCLUSIONS Secondary Findings – Passive Inclusion in the MuseumTHREE PRIMARY CONCLUSIONS •Previous literature has focused too heavily on the understanding that inclusion in the museum is premised primarily on touch, and therefore “purely” visual concepts cannot be understood•Case studies show our focus on perception alone is wrong: concepts are not specific to inherent knowledge or individual perceptions•People should be included in all aspects of visual culture no matter what level of sight, with an understanding that they are capable of developing understanding through language and environmentQUESTIONS1. “From your research could you offer 3 main areas of improvement that would allow blind and partially sighted people to enjoy the visual arts even more?”I. MOST IMPORTANT: Being exposed to museums from a very early age, preferably with familiesII. If possible, having alternative perceptual input, such as touch – at least having proximity to an artworkIII. Being able to have a full – preferably through discourse – discussion about individual pieces 2. “I agree with Simon’s premise that there is a widely held assumption that blind people cannot understand the visual or plastic arts. I think that this assumption is also held by a lot of blind people themselves. If he agrees how does Simon think that this erroneous assumption can best be tackled?”I. I agree, and have seen it in personII. The only way is to get people through the door, this is the hardest partIII. After this, things become easier. Not easy, but easier. Verbal imaging and touch sessions have achieved very interesting transformations in my experience.APPENDIX A

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Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums, 2:Key note presentation

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