Play Art - Art for All
The exhibition provides an insight into the special collection "JENSEITS DES SEHENS". This is commissioned art that is equally accessible to blind and sighted people. Under the focus PLAY ART! we have illuminated this globally unique collection. Art sets worlds in motion.
ISLAND HOPPING AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
The "islands" are works of art. Ready to be conquered with all the senses. A multi-sensory exhibition. Discover the art of our time with relish. With hand, heart and brain. PLAY ART! unfolds an atmosphere full of joyful excitement and surprise.
Whether on your own, in dialogue, in groups or teams. Playfully explore the diverse world of ideas in art and the complex artistic solutions. Let yourself be touched. Whether big or small. Yes! Touching is allowed. Highly recommended. Whether blind or sighted. The spectrum ranges from simple sculptures to highly complex multimedia works.
The collection
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. Since 2002 - as a collection in progress - selected artists have been commissioned to work on it. Entirely in the spirit of MADE FOR ADMONT.
In 2012, "JENSEITS DES SEHENS - Kunst verbindet Blinde und Sehende" was presented to the public for the first time at Admont Abbey Museum - to mark its 10th anniversary. The duration was extended due to demand. And - we wanted to know: Blind, visually impaired, sighted and audio-descriptive visitors were invited to test the individual artworks as well as the exhibition format as a whole. In 2013/14, the collection was shown for three months at the "Centre of Contemporary Art Winzavod" in Moscow and put up for discussion; with consistently positive reactions and lasting effects on site. An art event that made waves - with repeated visits, associations for the blind and school classes as well as children who opened up access to art for their parents and grandparents.
Art Sharing
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. Learning from each other by being and doing together. A common space can develop through togetherness. 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. The approach to art, which can be experienced through the whole body, entices the emotions, harbours a high potential for experience and discovery and mobilises the willingness to engage more deeply with art.
The process
As an approach to this special topic, artists 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 has resulted in works of art that can be explored and experienced with 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. The motto for all works of art is: touching is recommended! Without gloves, directly and immediately. This opens up the possibility of an atmospheric approach to the artistic content/the artistic idea. It is an invitation: to accept the offer of interaction, to get involved, to create a space for connection, to resonate with pleasure.
Conclusion
The feedback from the internationally visited exhibitions in both Admont and Moscow confirms a certain uniqueness and singularity of the overall approach. The atmosphere is characterised by a joyful excitement and curiosity as well as a surprise effect with regard to the range and the various possibilities for activity and information in the context of a museum. The development of the collection and the presentations in Admont and Moscow were scientifically accompanied and documented using multimedia. A multi-year film project accompanies the process of reception. Together with blind and sighted people, extensive expertise has so far been acquired and new approaches to communication and reception have been developed. Further possible presentation locations are being actively discussed for the coming years.
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
