Art connects blind & sighted people
This special collection is an independent collection module within the Contemporary Art Collection. It currently comprises 27 contemporary works of art that are equally accessible to blind and sighted people.
Reflections
Selected artists have been commissioned to do this since 2002. As an approach to this special topic, they deal with being blind or visually impaired in different ways. In dialogue with those affected, they attempt to explore this world of perception - and thus usually reflect on their own perception, their own physical navigation system and their own artistic production. This process results in artworks that can be explored and experienced in multiple senses - directly. The spectrum ranges from simple sculptures to highly complex multimedia works to works that can only be experienced through dialogue between blind and sighted people.
Proactivity
The collection is conceived as a proactive offer to invite blind people to engage in discourse about contemporary art, to stimulate a boundary-broadening process of ART SHARING and SPACE SHARING between blind and sighted people. The collection offers the opportunity for encounters between different worlds, for their exchange towards mutual enrichment. A shared space can develop in co-operation. Sighted people can playfully find unusual approaches to art as well as to different styles of perception and worlds of perception. The collection also thematises the sensory quality of experience as an art category in its own right, as an artistic value in its own right. This art project, which is unique in the whole of Europe, enables a new approach to contemporary art.
Process
In 2012, "JENSEITS DES SEHENS - Kunst verbindet Blinde und Sehende" was presented to the public for the first time here at the Admont Abbey Museum - on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. In 2013/14, the collection was presented for discussion at the Centre of Contemporary Art Winzavod in Moscow, with consistently positive reactions and lasting effects on site.
The development of the collection and the presentation were scientifically accompanied and documented using multimedia. A multi-year film project accompanies the reception process. Together with blind and sighted people, extensive expertise has been gained and new approaches to communication and reception have been developed. Possible presentation locations for the coming years are being actively discussed.
Michael Braunsteiner, Curator
Barbara Eisner-B, coach | scientific support | documentation | film project
With works by:
Thomas Baumann, Wolfgang Becksteiner, Adi Brunner, Hannelore Demel-Lerchster, Johannes Deutsch, Manfred Erjautz, Heribert Friedl, Matthias Gommel, Michael Gumhold, Stefan Gyurko, Maria Hahnenkamp, Julie Hayward, Tomas Hoke, Anna Jermolaewa, Karl Karner, Michael Kienzer, Karl Leitgeb, Michael Maier, David Moises, Werner Reiterer, Constanze Ruhm, Emil Siemeister, Gustav Troger, Norbert Trummer, Martin Walde, Hans Winkler, Fabio Zolly.
