Tactual Explorations

When we think of art, it tends to be of created objects that appeal visually to the viewer. Despite being characterised by attempts to overthrow convention, modern art overwhelmingly – unquestioningly – seeks the attention of our visual sense.

PhD researcher Isil Onol presents Tactual Explorations, an exhibition designed to appeal to another sense – one that has been oddly ignored throughout the history of modern art; touch. Aimed at both visually impaired and sighted visitors, the event will bring audiences and artists from diverse backgrounds together to explore one famous museum object, the bronze bust of Sophocles (at the British Museum), from different perspectives.

The ten artists involved in Tactual Explorations have been asked to respond to this brief by making artworks that are specifically designed to be touched. This immediately breaks with a fundamental convention of the artistic experience – people are not normally allowed to touch art in galleries.

The intention of the exhibition is to convey ‘tactile interpretations’ of the bust – a method of examination in which the examiner feels the size or shape or firmness or location of something.

Purposely formulating artworks to be touched opens a wide field of enquiry, as the head of Sophocles is used to make this precious object more tangible and therefore ‘real’ to all visitors. This perhaps offers a solution to the sometimes-understandable ‘hands-off’ museum and artistic policies.

There are many ways of achieving this improvement in people’s participation with and enjoyment of art. Museums and galleries recognise this and indeed, have to change practices that have been well established, in order to continue to attract visitors. Technology is increasingly meeting these challenges to enable artists and visitors alike to overcome barriers, real or perceived, and allow ideas to flourish.

Isil Onol presents Tactual Explorations as an extension of her own investigations into ‘haptic interactions.’ Haptic is from the Greek verb ‘to touch’ and it should be noted that this most accessible and powerful sense has been largely neglected. Haptic technology provides the possibility of widening access to information and artefacts held in museums. Benefits might include:

Allow rare, fragile or dangerous objects to be handled
Objects can be modelled and then visitors or researchers could feel them.

Improve access for people with a visual disability
Such visitors could feel and interact with a much wider range of objects, enriching their experiences in a museum.

Increase the number of artefacts on display
Visitors could experience objects not on display by means of a computer, without taking up museum space.

Tactual Explorations is as much about the strange disregard for touch in the arts as it is a challenge to the dominance of the visual. The opening up of the possibilities for an artform that is viewed regardless of its visual appearance charts unmapped territories. This is precisely because to behold an artwork with the sense of touch rather than sight is not a restriction at all but an opening onto a whole new wealth of possibilities that can enable art to continue to challenge and question wider society.