BEYOND THE VISUAL: NON-SIGHTED MODES OF BEHOLDING ART

拟议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，讨论观看艺术的非视觉模式。它将质疑混合(媒介)当代艺术形式所提供的审美参与的转变如何为部分视力障碍和盲人社区打开新的参与。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。该网络旨在加深对这种参与形式的空间和策展可能性的理解，以及它们在当代艺术世界之外的潜在应用。该提议是在这样的背景下提出的，在这种背景下，盲人和部分视力障碍的观赏者对“视觉”艺术的参与主要是通过改善获得特定于媒介的艺术形式的问题来解决的，比如通过音频描述和触摸旅游，或者(更有问题的)中介形式，如“触觉”绘画和3D传真。虽然在大流行后的情况下，获取信息是一个持续的问题，但对“传统”艺术的狭隘关注并没有记录到中介/装置艺术如何(I)从根本上挑战艺术的本体论，(Ii)刻意去习惯化旁观者的地位，以及(Iii)挑战“与背景无关的”艺术的概念。针对盲人参与模式的关键之处，主张盲人或视障观众的参与应该与有视力的旁观者一样复杂。考虑到默认的白色立方体画廊的普遍情况和“观看”艺术的根深蒂固的习俗，这个问题非常紧迫。更深入地理解艺术的非视觉本体论，不仅会扩大对新观众的参与，还会增强盲人和有视力的观赏者的体验。这将影响画廊和博物馆的设计-可用的空间类型，如声学特性和嵌入的触觉提示-以及对策展的态度(在这些地方，部分和失明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传统的参与方式，优先考虑有视力的观众(比如无处不在的“请不要碰”)。这一研究网络将促进思想交流，就艺术的非视觉或部分视觉参与的现象学进行跨学科思考。至关重要的是，它将使盲人和部分视力正常的社区和组织参与进来，促进这些观众的文化机会，以及制定关于包容和进入(以及设计)博物馆/画廊环境的政策的机构内的那些人。但它也将借鉴以下学科的见解：认知科学和心理学(即非视觉空间定向和知觉系统的相互依赖)；艺术哲学(艺术本体论和接受美学)；艺术和设计实践(视力正常和失明的艺术家从事超出视觉范围的作品)；从事批判性残疾研究的理论家。工作坊和研讨会将围绕三个关键主题组织：(I)非视觉感知和定向(如声音/触觉定位)；(Ii)建筑和空间情境/语境(重新思考画廊情境)；(Iii)扩大艺术和策展实践(将新类型的偶遇艺术理论化)。讨论将被转录，并通过该网络的研究网站提供，现场直播将促进虚拟参与。一本围绕网络讨论中出现的主题编排的编辑过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。

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.