Blind Persons and Art: Towards a Multisensory and Inclusive Museology
Abstract:
This article focuses on issues related to the accessibility of art—and to cultural heritage more broadly—for people who are blind. The right to know and enjoy beauty is a fundamental human right, yet it is still not fully guaran teed for everyone. Blind individuals perceive through touch, a mode of perception that often clashes with the widespread "do not touch" policy in museums and with a museological approach grounded exclusively in visual perception. In Italy, two blind individuals founded a unique institution: the Museo Tattile Statale Omero (State Tactile Museum Omero) in Ancona, whose core mission is accessibility and inclusion. Drawing on the museum’s extensive experience, this article offers reflections on new ways of engaging with artworks that give back value to the role of touch and explores multisensory perception as a means of renewing museology. These approaches aim to offer both blind and sighted visitors a new aesthetic experience—intimate, engaging, and participatory. The article ends with a presentation of the museum’s most recent exhibition, dedicat ed to the international artist Enzo Cucchi, as a concrete result of Museo Omero’s ongoing empirical research and experimentation, and as a paradigmatic example of a fully inclusive, multisensory cultural event.
