Found in translation

Since January 2021, OCAD U graduate students enrolled in the Inclusive Design Multisensory Museum course have been investigating what it means to translate art into immersive experiences that engage the senses through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. In response to 12 artworks from the AGO Collection, they brought their multisensory translations to life, albeit virtually, in the form of short video presentations. Guided by Melissa Smith, OCAD U instructor and AGOAssistant Curator, Access and Learning, the videos have evolved into artworks themselves, relying more specifically on auditory and visual stimulation by using scripted voiceovers, captions and animations. 

“Multisensory aids can provide different entry points to museums, acknowledging multiple perspectives and the co-creation of meaning,” explained Smith to AGOinsider in January 2021. “They help lower perceived and physical barriers. It is my belief that when we design for users who have more barriers, that we create a better outcome for everyone.” Acting as a resource hub and events calendar, the newly unveiled Access to Art page houses all present and future Multisensory Museum translations and related content created at the AGO.

In case you missed them, we’ve rounded up the self-produced videos created so far by students Mingyan Wei (still image above), Arsalan Akhtar, Morteza Farhoudi and Japjot Singh. Below, experience works by artists Wassily Kandinsky, Walter Trier, Mary E. Wrinch and Kazuo Nakamura in new and unexpected ways. 

Mingyan Wei  (she/her) is a first-year student in the Inclusive Design program (MDes), hailing from Beijing, China. In her multisensory translation, she uses music, Lego bricks and candies to playfully explore Wassily Kandinsky's abstract painting Grey Circle (1923) with sound, touch and taste.

Based in Toronto, Arsalan Akhtar (he/him) is an interactive designer and digital marketer, studying in his final year of OCAD U’s Digital Futures (MDes) program. Akhtar translates illustrator Walter Trier’s pen and ink drawing titled Exchanging Hearts of Love (1977) into an interactive video that explores the meaning and feeling of love.

Morteza Farhoudi (he/him) is a Behavioural Designer, living in Boroujen, Iran. His video presentation examines Canadian artist Mary E. Wrinch’s linocut titled Sunrise (1929). Farhoudi analyzes the essence of this print with detailed attention to its symbolism.

Japjot Singh (he/him) is an India-born interior designer and first-year student in OCAD U’s Inclusive Design program (MDes). Focusing primarily on enhancing textural sensations, his video transforms Japanese-Canadian artist Kazuo Nakamura's Inner Structure (1956) into a 1:2 scale 3-D prototype.

Stay up-to-date with the upcoming Multisensory Museum experiences happening every three weeks throughout the spring, summer and fall. Tune in to Facebook at 11 am on Friday, April 23, for lea rose sebastianis’s take on Félicien Rops's Death Sowing Discord (1864). This is a free event with no registration required. 

For more on accessibility and engagement in art museums, learn about Slow Art Day, read Melissa Smith’s perspective on Creative Visual Descriptions, and see other stories in AGOinsider.