The Art Gallery of Ontario has partnered with a technology company called BlindSquare to make its exhibitions more accessible to the blind.
BlindSquare pairs a smartphone app with an indoor navigation system to allow blind and partially sighted people to navigate through spaces independently.
Visitors can try the technology at the gallery's Andy Warhol exhibition, on view through October. Nineteen low-energy Bluetooth devices, called smart beacons, have been set up throughout the space.
Visitors can download the free BlindSquare Event Edition app on their smartphones. When an app user is in range of a beacon, audio will play on their phone. The audio includes information on the exhibition and instructions about the layout of the user's surroundings. If the phone is not in range of a beacon, it will emit a series of three slow beeps, which will speed up the closer it gets to a beacon. The audio is available in both English and French.
In recent years, many galleries across the world have been finding creative ways to engage blind and partially sighted individuals. At the Tate Britain in London, blind visitors can go on touch tours, where they are invited to touch select sculptures with a gallery guide. Some of the most well-known museums in the world, including the Uffizi in Florence and the Prado in Madrid, have used 3D printing to create low relief versions of famous paintings that visitors can touch.
Source: Art Gallery of Ontario