See with hands and ears

Few museums or art centers offer visits adapted to the visually impaired. The Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) organized such an event last month. I took part in the company of around ten blind people and just as many accompanying people.



The ten people who were entitled to this experience are members of the Regroupement des blinds et amblyopes du Montréal métropolitain (RAAMM). They were invited to visit the exhibition of works by Lili Raynaud-Dewar which was presented in the temporary rooms of the MAC at Place Ville Marie.

Careful preparation work had been done in advance by the museum team. Nothing was left to chance. We were first gathered in a room where a tactile map allowed visitors to locate the location of the works in the two rooms.


PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS

The guide and interpreter of the exhibition, Lilia Kahdria, with a blind participant

In the first, we could see aluminum sculptures by the artist. As the MAC purchased one of them, visitors were allowed to put on gloves in order to touch it to better feel its shapes. Two MAC employees, Véronique Lefebvre and Lilia Kahdria, answered questions from visually impaired people who were very aware of the privilege they enjoyed.

Then, everyone moved to the second room where Lili Reynaud-Dewar’s videos were projected. This time, audio description was used to help blind people see the images.

The descriptions were so accurate and precise that some visitors reacted exactly as other (non-blind) visitors did to the artist’s video works. Let us point out that she appears completely naked in each of the videos, which does not fail to cause a certain discomfort on occasion.

This visit requires a lot of effort from the MAC team. This is undoubtedly what explains why there are so few initiatives of this type in Quebec. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has organized tours for the visually impaired in the past, but this has been put aside since the pandemic.


PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS

Blind people visit the latest exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Place Ville Marie.

However, I was told by email that the MMFA is “working on setting up a new program intended for these audiences.”

Last April, my colleague Stéphanie Morin published a report on the means that theaters are putting forward to promote universal accessibility. We realize that, despite a certain evolution, Quebec is lagging behind, particularly in museums.

“I am interested in what is being done in Europe and the United States and we must admit, we are far behind,” Pascale Dussault, general director of RAAMM, told me. Quebec is in its infancy in this area. »

Around 350,000 people suffer from a visual disability in Quebec. Of this number, 100,000 live in the territory of Greater Montreal. The RAAMM brings together 350 members.

Pascale Dussault, who is well aware of what is being done for visually impaired people in Montreal, had difficulty naming the museum institutions or art centers that offer dedicated activities. “I learned that the new Museum of Montreal Memories (MEM) offers a workshop for visually impaired people. But that’s not much. »

It must be said that organizing a dedicated activity requires a lot of planning, human resources, technological tools and money. “We must salute the effort of those who do it, because we are not a very important clientele for them,” adds Pascale Dussault.

The approach recommended by the institutions, as appreciated as it may be, ensures that activities must take place on a fixed day and time.

Pascale Dussault would like measures that would offer more flexibility and allow visually impaired people to attend museums at their convenience with a companion of their choice.

“We should put more emphasis on audio descriptions or Braille to ensure that a visually impaired person can go there at any time with their spouse. »

Of the 100,000 visually impaired people who live in Montreal, what determines whether a person wants to be around art or not? “It’s like psychics,” Pascale Dussault told me. It is not the majority who are interested in culture. »

The experience of visually impaired people in a museum is obviously very different from that of visitors who can see. But as someone said during the visit: “What matters is that we can have contact with art, that we can discuss it. »

At the Aphasic Theater

As part of Universal Accessibility Month, in October, the Théâtre Aphasique organizes events that will highlight the creativity of its members. First, an interactive exhibition-performance entitled Appearances which we will be able to see at the Maison de la culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal from October 19 to November 26. Then, in the same place, the room Follow the thread will be presented on Saturday October 21. The actor Vincent Leclerc, spokesperson for the organization, invites us to participate in the fundraising campaign which will allow the pursuit of the mission: building a bridge between silence and expression so that no one remains isolated.


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