From 2016-19, twelve European institutions (museums, tech companies, and universities) teamed up with more than 200 volunteers with various disabilities, including the visually impaired, hard of hearing and people with learning problems. Over the period of three years, they all worked together in participative research groups in Vienna, London, Madrid and Oviedo, to develop technological tools to make art more accessible.
The outcomes include a museum handbook in three languages, as well as museum-apps, online games, a novel 3D relief printer, and the project “Please Touch!”, which was developed as an on-site installation for museums, but is for outreach sessions in e.g. in schools and nursing homes. Using a custom-built relief design software, tactile interpretations of selected artworks were realized as reliefs in different materials for an interactive computer station. The visitor can navigate the system autonomously, by exploring 3D-spatial soundscapes, projections, animations, written and spoken text, as well as three different sign-languages, and an option for easy language.