Using new technologies and ideas to communicate art and culture to older people in an entertaining, understandable and accessible way - that is the main aim of the European research project BeauCoup, led by Georg Regal from the Centre for Technology Experience.
BeauCoup stands for ‘Building Active User Experience to bring Culture to the People’. In other words, it is about showing art objects outside the museum. Ten partners from five European countries were involved. To this end, the project developed a special BeauCoup rucksack with a glass viewing window containing 3D printed art objects and a tablet with audiovisual displays and explanations. In addition, a tactile relief of the painting ‘The Bird Thief’, which can be experienced with all the senses via a Tactile Multimedia Guide, as well as an interactive Virtual Guided Tour and a special Feelif tablet that makes art tangible and tactile.
We spent the morning at the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the afternoon at the retirement home in Vienna-Leopoldstadt to film a report on the project. We showed how diverse, multisensory and barrier-free information about Brueghel's painting ‘The Bird Thief’ can be conveyed.
Senior citizens clearly had fun
In addition to the numerous senior citizens, who were thoroughly enthusiastic about the programme, the two AIT colleagues Georg Regal (during the interview in front of the Kunsthistorisches Museum) and Jaison Puthenkalam (during the workshop with eight senior citizens in the retirement home), as well as Julia Häussler from the museum and Andreas Reichinger, our partner for the Tactile Multimedia Guide from VRVis, also had their statements.
The European BeauCoup project, funded by the EU's AAL Joint Programme, is a great example of how new technologies can be used in a meaningful way to give older or impaired people who may not be able to visit a museum access to culture and keep them cognitively challenged and fit. The project ends in September 2024.
Tip: Every Friday, the Kunsthistorisches Museum organises special guided tours for people with disabilities: inclusive art education. More information here: https://www.khm.at/en/learn/art-education/inclusive-art-education/
Photos: AIT/Christine Wahlmüller-Schiller
