Exhibition without art promotes audio description

27 May 2012

Roberta: One of the challenges for arts administrators across all art forms is attracting and retaining new audiences. An art gallery in Poland has come up with a novel and quirky way of doing things using only audio description to describe and sell paintings by well-known Polish artists. Ally Woodford from Media Access Australia joins us today to tell us more. Welcome Ally.

Ally: Thanks Roberta. Hi everyone.

Roberta: It’s such an interesting idea; can you tell us just how it came about?

Ally: Well really it was a public relations campaign brought about by Poland’s Audio Description Foundation, and they knew that the knowledge of audio description generally was very low and that it’s used in museums and galleries was also very low. So they consulted with an advertising agency and they came up with the concept of an exhibition that was called Art Never Seen.

Roberta: But traditionally audio description in art galleries would be a tour with live description of the artwork, so what set Art Never Seen apart from the traditional approach?

Ally: Well it was promoted as a regular art exhibition to regular arts patrons, but on arrival all that was hung on the walls were sets of headphones and so the patrons moved amongst the headphones listening to descriptions of what the artworks were, and I guess creating an image of the painting as depicted by the audio describer. So there was no actual art to see.

Roberta: Ah, right. Now I believe that auction of the artworks was then held based only on the descriptions, is that right?

Ally: Yeah, yeah that’s right. And from all accounts the artworks received above market value and proceeds from the auction were then used to educate gallery and museum curators around Poland on how to implement audio description in their own venue.

Roberta: It’s a very interesting way to promote audio description. Now, do you think something like that would work locally?

Ally: Well why not? As a nation we’re good art-goers actually, with around 50% of us engaging in visual arts and crafts; but having said that, that still leaves 50% that don’t. So I think also with the younger generations being so interested in technology and info-tech savvy that tempting their sense of curiosity in such a technical way, it’s very cool. So I think it could work.

Roberta: So for Australian venues, are there many that are actually doing audio described tours now?

Ally: Yes and no; when it comes to performing arts, so mainly theatre and to a lesser degree opera and ballet, then yes, you’ll find most Australian States and Territories have a calendar of audio described performances throughout the year. For example, the Art Centre in Melbourne, it has quite an abundant calendar of described events, and also the Ensemble Theatre here in Sydney has been describing regularly for over 10 years. Museum and galleries though, they’re less abundant and tend to have audio described tours or touch tours on a request basis and need a couple of weeks’ notice.

Roberta: Ah right, yeah.

Ally: So these are audience-generated rather than venue-generated. A couple of places that do them are the Queensland Art Gallery, they offer the service between February and November each year; and the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, they have staff on site or volunteers as well who can deliver the service any time of the year. But as I said, it’s with a booking, and usually it’s a two week notice kind of thing.

Roberta: Mm, I know that describers here in Melbourne did descriptive tours of say, Como House, Rippon Lea, the Old Melbourne Gaol and places like that. But as you said, it was kind of on a booking situation.

Ally: Yeah, yeah, that’s correct. Yeah.

Roberta: Well, a list of Australian galleries and museums that provide audio description is available in the Cinema and Arts section of Media Access Australia’s website. Would you like to give us that website Ally?

Ally: Yeah, it’s www.mediaaccess.org.au, so mediaaccess, all one word.

Roberta:.org.au.

Ally: Yeah.

Roberta: Well, you can also talk to Ally about accessing the arts by calling 02 9212 6242, that number again, 02 9212 6242, or you can email if that’s more efficient for you info@mediaaccess.org.au. Thank you for all of that today Ally, and I hope that it, something that we can do here, Art Never Seen.

Ally: I’d love to see something like that here. Thanks Roberta.

Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Ally Woodford from Media Access Australia, and Media Access Australia are supporters of this programme.