I devoted my doctoral studies to audio description in a museum context. In other words, I am interested in the process that makes visual content in museums accessible to blind and visually impaired (B&VI) people. That is to say, audio description is a form of cultural mediation since it allows us to build a bridge between the works of art that make up an exhibition and the B&VI public who visits it. My doctoral research stands out because I put forward a technique for writing audio-descriptive scripts that combine multimodal translation, from visual to auditory, with the museum experience that is social, physical, intellectual and emotional (Falk and Dierking 2011 [2016]). That is to say, for me, the objective of audio description is first to ensure that B&VI visitors can have a museum experience that resembles mine, yours.
First, during an initial meeting, we could determine whether the visit will be done using a descriptive audio guide, therefore pre-recorded, or whether the visit will be described by a guide. Each of these methods has advantages: the audio guide, accessible in all times, makes the B&VI person autonomous since they no longer need to notify you 14 days in advance of their visit; the visitor will be able to pause the description in order to properly absorb the information heard; the pre-recorded description can be enhanced with a soundtrack, or even be a marketing tool if a public figure narrates it. The descriptive tour, for its part, has the advantage of taking some people out of their isolation and allowing an exchange with the other participants as well as with the guide who can answer all the questions and help interpret the objects to touch that could be made available to visitors.
Then, it is imperative, for example, to describe the architecture of the building that houses your institution as well as the entrance hall and the exhibition rooms since these places are at the base of the museum experience. If each of the descriptions conveys the institutional discourse, scholarly terms will be incorporated into the descriptions. It is then important to popularize these notions in order to make them meaningful and allow visitors to learn or improve knowledge already acquired.
Finally, the works of art observed during a visit to the museum leave no one unmoved: one can be proud, doubtful, sad, angry, perplexed, shocked, conquered, amused, etc. According to the results of my field research with A&M participants to whom I presented my audio descriptions, these feelings must be communicated to the public so that they feel the state of mind of the audio describer when discovering the works. For example, I mention that I felt very small in front of the fresco The Apotheosis of Christopher Columbus by Napoléon Bourassa and that the many characters left me speechless. This information will ensure that B&VI visitors will be significantly engaged with the works described.
So, if you want to attract new audiences to your museum, let me help you democratize art, culture, and heritage. Although the target audience for audio description is blind and visually impaired people, research tends to show that all audiences benefit from this cultural mediation tool since the handwritten texts are offered in audio format, and newcomers are told what to see while describing the techniques used by the artists, all while combining touch, hearing, smell and taste. This multi-sensory descriptive tour helps to make the works tangible since they are truly felt. The combination of the senses will ensure that the memory of this exhibition will be imprinted in the minds of visitors. In other words, they will vividly remember their visit to your institution and will speak highly of it.
Of course, I can train your staff so that they are able to receive B&VI visitors at any time.
Contact me to make an appointment and discuss in person the advice I can give you regarding the accessibility of your collections and the renewal of your audiences.
REFERENCE: FALK, John H. and DIERKING, Lynn D. (2011 [2016]): The Museum Experience, 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge.
