Few museums or art centers offer visits for the visually impaired. The Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) organized such an event last month. I took part in the company of about ten blind people and as many accompanying people.
Published at 2:55 am. Updated at 9:00 a.m.
The ten people who were entitled to this experience are members of the Regroupement des blinds et amblyopes du Montréal métropolitain (RAAMM). You were invited to visit the exhibition of works by Lili Raynaud-Dewar, presented in the MAC’s temporary spaces at Place Ville Marie.
The museum team had carried out careful preparatory work in advance. Nothing was left to chance. We were initially gathered in a room where a tactile map allowed visitors to pinpoint the location of the works in the two rooms.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The exhibition’s guide and interpreter, Lilia Kahdria, with a blind participant
In the first we could see aluminum sculptures by the artist. When the MAC purchased one of these, visitors were allowed to put on gloves to touch it and better feel its shapes. Two MAC employees, Véronique Lefebvre and Lilia Kahdria, answered questions from visually impaired people who were very aware of the privileges they enjoyed.
Then everyone went to the second room, where Lili Reynaud-Dewar’s videos were projected. This time, audio description was used to make it easier for blind people to see the images.
The descriptions were so accurate and precise that some visitors responded to the artist’s video works in the same way as other (non-blind) visitors. We would like to point out that in each of the videos she appears completely naked, which occasionally causes some discomfort.
This visit requires a lot of effort from the MAC team. This undoubtedly explains why there are so few initiatives of this kind in Quebec. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has organized tours for the visually impaired in the past, but these have been suspended 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 via email that the MMFA is “working on establishing a new program for these populations.”
Last April, my colleague Stéphanie Morin published a report on the measures that theaters are proposing to promote universal accessibility. We are aware that, despite some development, Quebec is lagging behind, especially when it comes to museums.
“I am interested in what is being done in Europe and the United States, and we have to admit that we are far behind,” Pascale Dussault, director general of RAAMM, told me. Quebec is still in its infancy in this area. »
In Quebec, around 350,000 people suffer from visual impairment. Of these, 100,000 live in the greater Montreal area. The RAAMM brings together 350 members.
Pascale Dussault, who knows exactly what is being done in Montreal for the visually impaired, had difficulty naming the museum institutions or art centers that offer specific activities. “I learned that the new Museum of Montreal Memories (MEM) is offering a workshop for visually impaired people. But that’s not much. »
It must be said that organizing a special activity requires a lot of planning, personnel, technical resources and money. “We have to recognize the efforts of those who do it, because we are not a very important customer for them,” adds Pascale Dussault.
The approach recommended by the institutions, however valued, ensures that the activities must take place on a fixed day and time.
Pascale Dussault would like to see measures that offer more flexibility and enable visually impaired people to visit museums at their leisure with a companion of their choice.
“We should put more emphasis on audio description or Braille to ensure that a visually impaired person can go there with their spouse at any time. »
Of the 100,000 visually impaired people living in Montreal, what determines whether someone wants to pursue art or not? “It’s like clairvoyants,” Pascale Dussault told me. It’s not the majority who are interested in culture. »
The experience of visually impaired people in a museum is obviously very different from the experience of sighted visitors. But as someone said during the visit: “What is important is that we have contact with art, that we can discuss it.” »
In the Aphasic Theater
As part of Universal Accessibility Month in October, Théâtre Aphasique organizes events that highlight the creativity of its members. First, an interactive exhibition performance entitled “Appearances” that we can see from October 19th to November 26th at the Maison de la Culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal. The piece Follow the Wire will be performed at the same location on Saturday, October 21st. The actor Vincent Leclerc, spokesman for the organization, invites us to take part in the fundraiser, which will make it possible to pursue the mission: to build a bridge between silence and expression so that no one remains isolated.