Case study · Cork, Ireland
A gallery co-designed
with those who can't see it.
The Glucksman (University College Cork) integrates NaviLens in «Fashion Show: Clothing, Art and Activism» within the European BEAM UP project: codes at the door, on the curatorial texts and beside work labels so any visitor can listen to the room in their own language.
BEAM UP
Creative Europe · 2020–2023
€199,988
Smaller Scale Cooperation funding (EU)
29 Jul – 6 Nov 2022
Fashion Show: Clothing, Art and Activism
10 artists
Berger, Framis, Gluklya, Sidibé, Tenant of Culture…
Client
The Glucksman
University College Cork
The Glucksman is the contemporary art gallery of University College Cork, open to the city and the campus, with a programme combining international exhibitions, the UCC collection and a strong education and community strand.
Its Access policy states the intent to be an inclusive organisation, «especially for those who do not ordinarily access cultural experiences». NaviLens joins as one more piece of that policy, inside the European project BEAM UP — Blind Engagement in Accessible Museum Project, led by Cooperativa Atlante (IT) with partners MSU Museum (Zagreb), Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano and The Glucksman itself.
§ The challenge
Letting the room explain itself to those who can't read it.
- 01
A university gallery that wants to be everyone's
The Glucksman, on the University College Cork campus, has built into its Access policy the commitment to open up to communities that «do not easily access cultural experiences». The question was how to bring that commitment into the actual journey of every exhibition.
- 02
Labels and walls that only speak to those who read
The walls of Fashion Show are full of curatorial text, work labels and artist biographies. For a low-vision visitor —or an international one— that wall is opaque if there is no alternative accessible layer.
- 03
Co-design with visually impaired people
BEAM UP was born precisely to «produce services together with visually impaired people», not for them. Any solution had to be activable from the visitor's own phone, without a proprietary app or special hardware in the room.
§ The solution
An accessible layer
on every wall.
Each NaviLens code is bound to a fragment of the show: the entrance, the opening curatorial text, the section walls («Fashion Statements»), the work labels of Malick Sidibé, Anna-Sophie Berger, Tenant of Culture or Alicia Framis. The —free— app detects them from several metres, at an angle and in low light.
The visitor with visual disability hears the content in their own language; the international visitor can do the same without relying on English. All from their own phone, with no proprietary app and no extra infrastructure in the room.
§ Timeline
From a European project to a lived exhibition.
- 2020
BEAM UP starts (Creative Europe)
The consortium led by Cooperativa Atlante (Italy) with MSU Museum (Zagreb), Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano and The Glucksman (UCC, Cork) receives €199,988 from the Creative Europe — Smaller Scale Cooperation programme to co-design the museum experience with blind and low-vision people.
- 29 Jul 2022
Fashion Show opens
The Glucksman opens «Fashion Show: Clothing, Art and Activism», curated by Chris Clarke and Fiona Kearney as part of BEAM UP. Alongside the introductory text, the inclusion of tactile elements and navigation/audio resources in-room and online is explicitly announced.
- Summer–autumn 2022
NaviLens codes at doors, intro and labels
The team deploys NaviLens codes at the gallery's main entrance, on the «Fashion Show» introductory panel, on the section texts («Fashion Statements») and beside specific work labels — from Malick Sidibé and Anna-Sophie Berger to Tenant of Culture or Alicia Framis.
- 6 Nov 2022
Exhibition closes, model consolidates
After 14 weeks open, Fashion Show consolidates the use of NaviLens within The Glucksman's BEAM UP model, which remains as a European reference for museum accessibility co-designed with blind people.
§ What they said
What The Glucksman and Creative Europe said.
“Fashion Show is part of BEAM UP, a Creative Europe funded project to encourage the participation of visually impaired people in the planning and experience of museum activities. The displays will include a range of tactile elements, navigation and audio resources available in the gallery and online on our website.”
“BEAM UP is a project born to help museums to move from the production of services for people with visual impairments to the production of services done together with the visually impaired in the field of contemporary art.”
“Funding Strand: Smaller Scale Cooperation · Funding Amount €199,988 · Irish partner: Glucksman Gallery, UCC, Cork.”
§ Where the system lives
Entrance, curatorial text and work labels.
§ Results
A European room accessible from the door to the last label.
1 app
Free NaviLens — the same one as MTA, EUIPO or NIU
0 hardware
No extra in-room installation beyond the printed code
EU funded
Backed by Creative Europe + UCC + Arts Council of Ireland
§ And your destination?
Your destination can also guide in 42 languages.
Tell us about your routes, offices, monuments or galleries. We’ll show you how NaviLens would make your offer accessible —with comparable cases.
