New light on 'the viewer': Sensing the Parthenon galleries in the British Museum

TY - CHAP

T1 - New light on 'the viewer'

T2 - Sensing the Parthenon galleries in the British Museum

AU - Adams, Ellen

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Ellen Adams; individual chapters, the contributors. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/5/14

Y1 - 2021/5/14

N2 - Classicists are beginning to recognise that the traditional template of the ancient viewer is that of an elite, urban, White adult male, and they are attempting to open up the subject to other eyes and voices. But the assumption of 20/20 vision remains, and certain conditions, such as colour blindness or stereoblindness, testify that 'vision' is experienced in a wide range of ways. Furthermore, we all notice, absorb, and remember the world differently. Art appreciation is therefore a personal perception, as is the description of artworks and their impact on us. Intermodal translation of the visual into the verbal has been a long-standing theme in Classics as ekphrasis. This chapter considers what we can learn from engaging with blind people in terms of how we look at, appreciate, and articulate visual art, particularly in terms of audio description (AD). It presents some of the aims, activities, and conclusions of a pilot study conducted in the Department of Greece and Rome and the Parthenon galleries of the British Museum. This involved ADs and touch/handling sessions for a small group of blind or partially sighted people and their companions over a series of four afternoons. A by-product of this approach is to review and reframe the sculptures in innovative ways, including a consideration of how these provisions might benefit sighted people.

AB - Classicists are beginning to recognise that the traditional template of the ancient viewer is that of an elite, urban, White adult male, and they are attempting to open up the subject to other eyes and voices. But the assumption of 20/20 vision remains, and certain conditions, such as colour blindness or stereoblindness, testify that 'vision' is experienced in a wide range of ways. Furthermore, we all notice, absorb, and remember the world differently. Art appreciation is therefore a personal perception, as is the description of artworks and their impact on us. Intermodal translation of the visual into the verbal has been a long-standing theme in Classics as ekphrasis. This chapter considers what we can learn from engaging with blind people in terms of how we look at, appreciate, and articulate visual art, particularly in terms of audio description (AD). It presents some of the aims, activities, and conclusions of a pilot study conducted in the Department of Greece and Rome and the Parthenon galleries of the British Museum. This involved ADs and touch/handling sessions for a small group of blind or partially sighted people and their companions over a series of four afternoons. A by-product of this approach is to review and reframe the sculptures in innovative ways, including a consideration of how these provisions might benefit sighted people.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108596110&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85108596110

SN - 9780367221959

SP - 130

EP - 159

BT - Disability Studies and the Classical Body

A2 - Adams, Ellen

PB - Taylor and Francis Inc.

ER -