Art Beyond Sight Multimodal Approaches to Learning October 16 and 17, 2009

Art Beyond Sight: Multimodal Approaches to LearningOctober 16 and 17, 2009 Organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art Convenors: Nina Levent, Art Education for the Blind; Rebecca McGinn

Art Beyond Sight: Multimodal Approaches to Learning

October 16 and 17, 2009

Organized by

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Convenors: Nina Levent, Art Education for the Blind; Rebecca McGinnis, The

Metropolitan Museum of Art; Marie Clapot, Art Education for the Blind

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Uris Center for Education, Entrance on Fifth Avenue at 81 st Street

Friday, October 16, 2009

9:00 – 10:00 Registration (Uris Center for Education)

10:00 – 10:20 Welcome (Lecture Hall)

10:20 – 12:20 The senses and disability in context: Perspectives from

museums, art history, anthropology, and philosophy (Lecture Hall)

Chair: Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor, History of Art, Yale University

From Object Lessons to Sentient Subjects: Curating and Displaying Ethnographic Artifacts Now

David Howes, Concordia University (Canada)

The Invisible Museum: An Archaeology of the Senses

Constance Classen, Concordia University (Canada)

First-Hand Knowledge: Some reflections on Blind Identity

Georgina Kleege, Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley

Re-Presenting Disability: activism and agency in the museum

Richard Sandell, Leicester University (UK)

Discussant: Marcus Weisen, Museums and Galleries without Barriers (UK, France) 12:20 – 1:50 Lunch break (on your own)

1:50 – 3:30 Concurrent sessions

The senses in contemporary art (Lecture Hall)

Chairs: Daniel Mason, curator and Roz Driscoll, artist and curator

Panelists: Diane Willow, multi-modal artist, University of Minnesota; Anna Schuleit,

artist, McArthur Fellow; Alexis Karl, artist

Sense of the city (Art Study Room)

Chair: David Howes, Concordia University (Canada)

Panelists: Patrick Devlieger, University of Leuven (Belgium); Madalina Diaconu,

University of Vienna (Austria); Doris Prenn (Austria); Orna Cohen, Dialogue In The Dark (Germany – Video link)

Museums: Access through the senses I (Carroll Classroom)

Chair: Nina Levent, Art Education for the Blind

Panelists: Jane Samuels, British Museum (UK); Sandra Eastwood, Iziko South African

National Gallery; Monica Suris and Maria-Jose Ania, ComAccess (Spain)

3:30 – 4:00 Coffee break

4:00 – 5:30 Concurrent sessions

Art, disability, identity (Lecture Hall)

Chair: tbc

Panelists: John Bramblitt, Artist and writer, University of Texas; Alison Jones, Artist

(UK); Eric Brun-Sanglard, The Blind Designer; Busser Howell, Artist

Museums: Access through the senses II (Art Study Room)

Chair: Georgia Krantz, Guggenheim Museum

Panelists: Santiago Gonzales D’Ambrosio, Reina Sofia (video link), Zeljak Susic and

Zeljak Salihagic, Tifloloski Museum (Croatia); Alexis Karl and Alice Schwarz, The

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Professional training and learning environments (The Studio)

Chair: Paula Terry, Director, AccessAbility, National Endowment for the Arts

Panelists: Gordon Legge, University of Minnesota; Aymeric Vildieu, Alain Mikli

International (France); Anita Hollander, Actress; Georgina Kleege, University of

California, Berkeley

Museum accessibility and inclusion: Perspectives from conservators, curators, and educators: A conversation (note: this session will finish at 5:00) (The Carroll Classroom)

Chair: Richard Sandell, Director, Department of Museum Studies, Leicester University

(UK)

Panelists: Lawrence Becker, Head of Objects Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum

of Art; Ian Wardropper, Chair, Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts,

The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Douglas McCulloh, Curator, Sight Unseen; others tbc

Saturday, October 17, 2009

9:00 – 10:00 Registration and coffee (Uris Center for Education)

All day: Poster sessions (Studio):Edu-art, Monica Gorini and Gioia Aloisi (Italy);

Tactile Paintings, Heather Bowring (UK); Stories Through Art: TOUCH, An Art

Experience for the Senses, Patricia Maunder and Mary Pat Coyle; RAF Models,

Rebecca Fuller; Design as storytelling at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Natacha Poggio (CT); Tiflološki muzej, Zeljka Susic (Croatia); Hard of Seeing Productions, Erich

Manser (CA); Saraswathy Venkataraman, OT, University of Malaysia

10:00 – 10:15 Welcome (Lecture Hall)

10:15 –12:15 The science of the senses: Psychology and neuroscience

(Lecture Hall) Chair: Lotfi Merabet, Harvard Medical School

Introduction: Why neuroscience matters

Lotfi Merabet, Harvard Medical School

Semantics of the senses

Barbara Tversky, Teachers College, Columbia University

Wayfinding with visual impairment

Gordon Legge, University of Minnesota

Learning to see: A scientific and humanitarian approach

Pawan Sinha, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT

Studying the brain to learn about the mind

Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Harvard Medical Center

12:15 – 1:45 Lunch break (on your own)

1:45 – 3:30 Concurrent sessions

Educators’ perspectives on multisensory education (Lecture Hall)

Chair: Hannah Goodwin, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)

Panelists: Nitza Horner, The Metropolitan Museum of Art;

Venkantesh Krishnappa, Chandana Art Foundation; Rodrigo Mendes, Rodrigo Mendes Institute

Discussant: Pawan Sinha, MIT

Technology and the senses (Art Study Room)

Chair: Mandayam A Srinivasan, MIT Touch Lab and Lotfi Merabet, Harvard Medical

School

Panelists: Josh Miele, Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute; Jaime Sanchez,

University of Chile; Peter Meijer, Seeing with Sound (The Netherlands -video link); Sean White, Columbia University

Universal Design and multi-sensory environments (Carroll classroom)

Chair: Valerie Fletcher, Institute for Human-Centered Design

Panelists: Carlos Mourão Pereira, Architect (Portugal); Michael Schneider, artist and

interaction designer, ESI; Eric Brun-Sanglard, The Blind Designer; Camilla Rhyl,

Architect, Danish Building Research Institute (Denmark)

3:30 – 4:00 Break

4:00 – 5:30 Concurrent sessions

Soundscapes (Lecture Hall)

Chair: Joel Snyder, President, Audio Description Associates

Panelists: Edmund Mooney, Composer, Sound Artist and Acoustic Ecologist; Bruce

Odland, Sound artist, composer, sonic observer of the visual culture; Lou Giansante, sound producer, Art Education for the Blind

Technology and the Senses II (Art Study Room)

Chair: Marcus Weisen, Manager, Jodi Awards for accessible digital culture and

Museums and Galleries Without Barriers (UK, France)

Panelists: Glenda Sims, Knowbility Representative; Heather Smith, The National Trust

(UK); Jonathan Whiting, WebAim

Touch objects as learning tools for diverse audiences (Carroll classroom)

Chair: Barbara Tersky, Teachers College, Columbia University

Panelists: Trish Maunder and Mary Pat Coyle, Exhibit Developers/Educators; Rebecca

Fuller, RAF Models; Alain Mikli, Designer (France)

This conference is partially supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts

New York City Department of Cultural Affairs New York State Council on the Arts