BEYOND THE VISUAL: NON-SIGHTED MODES OF BEHOLDING ART

超越视觉：非视力观看艺术的方式

• 批准号: AH/V008862/1
• 负责人: Ken Wilder
• 金额: $ 3.44万
• 依托单位: University of the Arts London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FV008862%2F1
• 关键词: BEYOND; VISUAL; NON; SIGHTED; MODES

The proposed research network will act as a forum for the discussion of non-sighted modes of beholding art, within the context of situated forms of contemporary art practice. It will question how a shift in the aesthetic engagement afforded by hybrid (intermedia) forms of contemporary art opens up new engagements for the partially sighted and blind community. Sound, smell and touch, for instance, have become an important factor in some installation art, while the discipline of sound art has expanded the spatial reception of the auditory. The network aims to develop a deeper understanding of the spatial and curatorial possibilities of such forms of engagement, and their potential application beyond the world of contemporary art.The proposal is set against a background where the engagement of 'visual' art by blind and partially sighted beholders has primarily been addressed through questions of improving access to medium-specific forms of art, such as through audio descriptions and touch tours, or (more problematically) mediated forms such as 'tactile' paintings and 3D facsimiles. While in a post-pandemic situation access is an ongoing concern, a narrow focus on 'traditional' art does not register how intermedial/installation art has (i) fundamentally challenged ontologies of art, (ii) deliberately sets out to dehabitualise the beholder position, and (iii) challenges the notion of 'context independent' art. Addressing where the criticality lies in non-sighted modes of engagement, the proposition is that the engagement afforded a blind or visually impaired audience should be every bit as complex as that of sighted beholders. This issue is pressing given the prevalence of the default white cube gallery situation and entrenched conventions of 'viewing' art. A deeper understanding of non-visual ontologies of art will not only widen participation to new audiences, but enhance the experience of non-sighted and sighted beholders. This will impact upon the design of galleries and museums - the types of spaces made available, such as their acoustic properties and embedded tactile cues - and attitudes to curating (where partially and non-sighted beholders are rarely treated as part of the core audience, despite the RNIB estimating that over two million people in the UK have visual impairment). This means challenging museum conventions of engagement which prioritise sighted audiences (such as the ubiquitous 'please do not touch'). This research network will facilitate an exchange of ideas that engages interdisciplinary thinking on the phenomenology of the non- or partially-sighted engagement of art. Crucially, it will engage the blind and partially sighted community and organisations that promote cultural opportunities for this audience, and those within institutions enacting policy around inclusion and access to (and the design of) museum/gallery environments. But it will also draw upon disciplinary insights from: cognitive science and psychology (i.e. non-sighted spatial orientation, and the interdependence of perceptual systems); the philosophy of art (the ontology of art and the aesthetics of reception); art and design practice (sighted and non-sighted artists making work where the engagement extends beyond the visual); theoreticians engaging critical disability studies.The workshops and symposium will be organised around three key themes: (i) non-visual perception and orientation (such as sound/haptic localisation); (ii) architectural and spatial situations/contexts (rethinking the gallery situation); (iii) expanding art and curatorial practices (theorising new types of encountering art). The discussions will be transcribed and made available through the network's research website, and live-streaming will facilitate virtual participation. An edited book, organised around themes emerging from the network discussions, will be published at a later date, and made available as an audiobook and large format print edition.

拟议中的研究网络将作为一个论坛，在当代艺术实践的情境形式的背景下，讨论非视觉的观看艺术模式。它将质疑当代艺术的混合（媒介）形式所提供的审美参与的转变如何为部分失明和盲人社区开辟新的参与。例如，声音、气味和触觉已经成为一些装置艺术中的重要因素，而声音艺术的学科扩大了听觉的空间接收。该网络旨在更深入地了解这种参与形式在空间和策展方面的可能性，以及它们在当代艺术世界之外的潜在应用。该提案的背景是，盲人和部分失明的观众参与"视觉"艺术主要是通过改善特定媒介艺术形式的获取问题来解决的，例如通过音频描述和触摸图尔斯，或者（更有问题的是）中介形式，例如"触觉"绘画和3D传真。尽管在后疫情形势下，获取艺术品是一个持续的问题，但对"传统"艺术的狭隘关注并没有反映出中间/装置艺术如何（i）从根本上挑战艺术本体论，（ii）故意开始去习惯化旁观者的立场，以及（iii）挑战"独立于语境"的艺术概念。我们的主张是，为盲人或视力受损的观众提供的参与应该与有视力的观众一样复杂。鉴于默认白色立方体画廊的普遍存在和"观看"艺术的根深蒂固的惯例，这个问题是紧迫的。对艺术的非视觉本体的更深入理解不仅会扩大新观众的参与，而且会增强非视觉和视觉观众的体验。这将影响画廊和博物馆的设计-可用空间的类型，例如它们的声学特性和嵌入式触觉提示-以及对策展的态度（部分和非视力的观众很少被视为核心观众的一部分，尽管RNIB估计英国有超过200万人有视力障碍）。这意味着挑战博物馆的参与惯例，优先考虑有视力的观众（如无处不在的“请勿触摸”）。该研究网络将促进思想交流，对非视觉或部分视觉参与艺术的现象学进行跨学科思考。至关重要的是，它将吸引盲人和部分视觉社区和组织，为这些观众提供文化机会，以及那些制定包容性和进入（和设计）博物馆/画廊环境政策的机构。但它也将借鉴来自认知科学和心理学的学科见解（即非视觉空间定向和感知系统的相互依赖）;艺术哲学（艺术本体论与接受美学）;艺术与设计实践（有视力和无视力的艺术家在视觉之外进行工作）;工作坊及研讨会将围绕三个主题举行：（i）非视觉感知及方向感（如声音/触觉定位）;（ii）建筑和空间情况/背景（重新思考画廊的情况）;（iii）扩大艺术和策展实践（理论化新类型的相遇艺术）。这些讨论将被转录并通过该网络的研究网站提供，直播将促进虚拟参与。一本围绕网络讨论中出现的主题编辑的书将在晚些时候出版，并以有声读物和大幅面印刷版的形式提供。