An EU-funded project is allowing blind and visually impaired people to experience one of the most famous paintings in Vienna, Austria, known as The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. More than a million people view the masterpiece at the Belvedere Museum each year.
The iconic image is now available to blind and visually impaired people as a result of the EU-funded project which has created a 3D relief version.
Dominika Raditsch, who lost her vision at the age of four, was one of the first blind people to experience the touchable version of the painting.
She said, “It’s somehow round. It’s entangled. You can feel it… And in many places it’s so smooth…I can’t see it, but that’s what I think. It incites the imagination.”
Touching the relief recreates Klimt’s image in Dominika’s mind’s eye – her fingers serve as a medium between the 3D reproduction and her brain.
The Belvedere Museum, in association with the EU-funded AMBAVis project (which stands for ‘Access to Museums for Blind and Visually Impaired People’), is now planning to provide an interactive audio guide for blind people.
Cameras and sensors will be utilised to ensure that the part of the relief that is being touched will also be explained.