The conference took place on October 26-28, 2012 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.Conference convenors are Rebecca McGinnis, Nina Levent and Marie Clapot. Conference coordinator: Marie Clapot, 212 334 8723; aeb@artbeyondsight.org.

The conference addresses inclusive and multisensory learning environments and strategies, particularly in relation to the arts and museums. Our discussions will focus on experiences that involve sound, touch, movement, drama, olfactory and modes of proprioceptive learning. Multimodal learning and creative experiences are meaningful to all audiences including people with disabilities and people with different learning preferences.

Since 2005 this conference has become a forum for cross-disciplinary creative thinking and the exchange of ideas. We will continue to foster dialogue between such diverse disciplines as neuroscience, cognitive psychology, education, museum studies, disability and cultural studies, technology, architecture, product design, and media art. Conference participants and organizers aim to define a framework for engaging diverse audiences through multimodal experiences, and identify new trends and innovation in learning and museum practice.

The trademark of this conference has been its diverse cross-disciplinary audience that includes: Museum staff, art educators, teaching artists, special education teachers, therapists, new media artists, researchers, computer engineers and technology specialists, Universal Design advocates, architects, exhibit, and product designers, and graduate students

Conference Program

Download PDF of the conference program here.


Friday, October 26, 2012
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. - Registration (Uris Center for Education)

10:00 a.m. - 10:20 a.m. - Welcome (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)

Peggy Fogelman, Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Rebecca McGinnis, Museum Educator, Access and Community Programs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Elisabeth Axel, President and Founder of Art Beyond Sight
10:20 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Keynote Speaker (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)

Peter Sellars, Theater, Opera and Festival Director     

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Rethinking the Museum Experience: Museum as Educational, Social, Intellectual and Aesthetic Journey Through the Senses (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)
Discussion Leader: Nina Levent, Director, Art Beyond Sight and Flip Phillips, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Skidmore College
Speakers: John Falk, Professor of Free-Choice Learning, Oregon State University, Author, Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience
Rachel Herz, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Author, The Scent of Desire: Discovering our Enigmatic Sense of Smell
 Martin Tröndle, Professor for the study of cultural business operations and art research, Zepellin University, Switzerland, Mapping Museum Experience Project
Volker Kirchberg, Professor for Cultural Distribution and Cultural Organization in Applied Cultural Sciences, Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Mapping Museum Experience Project
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Lunch break (on your own)

2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Concurrent Sessions A
Experiencing Art Through the Senses: Artists’ Perspectives
·      Interactive Art (Seminar Room)
Learn about an art world where multimedia artists use software, computer processors, microcontrollers, or 3D modeling machines to create jewelry, sculptures and sound.
Chair: Isabel Walcott Draves, Leaders in Software and Art (LISA)
Artists: R. Luke Dubois, composer, artist and performer; Jesse Louis-Rosenberg, multimedia artist, and Jessica Rosenkrantz, multimedia artist, Nervous System; Daniel Rozin, artist, educator and developer

·      Taste: Explicit and Implicit (North Classroom)
The sense of taste, from survival value to molecular gastronomy to altered perceptions. 
Chair: Kóan Jeff Baysa, M.D., Medical Editor and Curator
Artists: Emilie Baltz, art director, designer, photographer, educator, artist and curator; Jennifer Rubell, performance artist and food curator; Mihir Desai; Kimberly Kelly, researcher, designer, artist

·      Touch: Making touch matter (Art Study Room)
Explore works of art through touch. Discover how the sense of touch influences these artists and the objects that they create.          
Chair: Daniel Mason, independent curator and writer
Artists: Mia Westerlund Roosen, William Tucker
    
·      Sight: Seeing Things Differently, Part I (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)
Learn about how an individual’s way of perceiving the world influences art-making.          
Chair: Jacqueline Terrassa, Managing Museum Educator for Gallery and Studio Programs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artists: Stephen Lapthisophon, Professor of Studio Art and Art History, University of Texas, Arlington; Paul Bloodgood, artist and curator

3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. - Coffee break


3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Concurrent Sessions B (Roundtables)
Experiencing Art Through the Senses: Museum Perspectives
·      Navigating Art Space (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)
Artists and scientists discuss ways to create multisensory gallery experiences using scent, running water, air currents, haptics and/or motion-responsive LED screens.
Chair: Isabel Walcott Draves, Leaders in Software Art (LISA)
Participants: Sofia Paraskeva, artist; Martin Tröndle, Professor for the study of cultural business operations and art research, Zepellin University, Switzerland, Mapping Museum Experience Project; Volker Kirchberg, Professor for Cultural Distribution and Cultural Organization in Applied Cultural Sciences, Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Mapping Museum Experience Project, Phoebe Hui, artist and researcher     

·      The Role of Touch in Learning and Teaching in Museums (Art Study Room)
This roundtable discussion explores the benefits of incorporating touch into museum teaching practices. 
Chair: Barbara Tversky, Professor of Psychology and Education, Teachers College Columbia University
Participants: Alan Balicki, Chief Conservator for Library Collections, New York Historical Society; Pamela Lawton, artist and contractual educator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Joaneath Spicer, James A. Murnaghan Curator of Renaissance and Baroque Art, The Walters Art Museum; Geerat Vermeij, Professor of Geology, University of California, Davis

·      Artists’ Tools and Process and Multisensory Learning (Carroll Classroom)
Museum educators discuss how artists’ tools and process can be an integral part of multisensory learning. 
Chair: Francesca Rosenberg, Director of Community, Access and School Programs, Museum of Modern Art
Participants: Jane Samuels, Manager for Access and Equality, British Museum; Calder Zwicky, Associate Educator for Teen of Community Programs, Museum of Modern Art ; Halldóra Arnardóttir, Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca in Murcia, Spain;   Rashaad Newsome, artist

·      The Art of Description, Part I: The Evolving Technology of Description (North Classroom)
How mobile technologies and modern sensing techniques are changing exhibit description.


Participants: Larry Goldberg, Director, National Center for Accessible Media; Steven Landau, Creative Director, Touch Graphics, Inc.; Nancy Proctor, Head of Mobile Strategy and Initiatives, Smithsonian Institution

Saturday, October 27, 2012
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. - Registration (Uris Center for Education)
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. - Introduction and recap of Day 1 (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Rethinking Art: The Multilayered Art Museum Experience and the Senses (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)
Discussion Leader: John Kennedy, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Toronto, Author, Drawing and the Blind
Speakers: David Freedberg Professor of Art History, Columbia University, Author, The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response
Margaret Livingstone, Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Author, Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing
Bonnie Pitman, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, the University of Texas at Dallas, Author, Ignite the Power of Art: Advancing Visitor Engagement in Museums 
                            Olga Hubard, Professor of Art Education, Teachers College
12:00 p.m. -1:30 p.m. - Lunch break- Bag lunch provided
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - Concurrent sessions C
Experiencing Art Through the Senses: Artists’ Perspectives
·      Scent as Art (the Studio)
A “nose-on” exploration of fragrances and olfactory art. 
Chair: Rachel Herz, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University
Participants: Christophe Laudamiel, Master Perfumer and Scent Sculptor, President DreamAir LLC;  Jim Drobnick, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory, Ontario College of Art and Design; Mary John Baumann, certified wine expert, Nose in the Glass; Andreas Keller, artist and olfactory researcher, Smell Study, Rockefeller University
Discussant: Kóan Jeff Baysa, M.D., Medical Editor and Curator

·      Sound Art, Music, and the Soundscape of the Museum (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)
Hear about how artists use sound in a variety of ways, including as a backdrop for the museum experience.
Chair: Johannes Goebel, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)  
Artists: Lou Mallozzi, sound artist, Experimental Sound Studio; Bruce Odland, composer and sound artist; Stephen Vitiello, electronic musician and media artist
Discussant: Siegfried Saerberg, Curator and Professor of Sociology and Disability Studies, Germany

·      Thinking Through the Drawing Process, Part I (Art Study Room)
How does drawing lead to discovery? What effect does the act of drawing have on the understanding of art for people with and without vision? In this session we will discuss the complex relationship between drawing and thinking.
Chair: Angela Brew         
Participants: William Crow, Managing Museum Educator for School and Teacher Programs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, artist; Michelle Fava;  Andrea Kantrowitz, artist and teacher; Rebecca McGinnis, Museum Educator, Access and Community Programs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Discussant: t.b.d.

·    Sight: Seeing Things Differently, Part II (Carroll Classroom)
Explore different ways of looking in this hands-on workshop.  Participation in Sight: Seeing Things Differently, Part I not necessary.     
Deborah Lutz, artist, contractual educator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Stephen Lapthisophon, artist, Professor of Studio Art and Art History, University of Texas, Arlington
2:30 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. - Coffee break
2:50 p.m. - 3:50 p.m. - Concurrent Sessions D (Roundtables)
Experiencing Art Through the Senses: Museum Perspectives
·      Designing Multisensory Exhibitions and Experiences (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)
This roundtable conversation will explore how we can design exhibitions that allow for more encompassing multisensory experiences. 
Chair: Shannon Mattern, School of Media Studies, The New School, New York, NY
Participants: Jim Drobnick, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory, Ontario College of Art and Design; Johannes Goebel, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC); John Weber, Dayton Director, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery ; Siegfried Saerberg, Curator and Professor of Sociology and Disability Studies, Germany

·      Putting Theory into Practice: Museum Interpretation and Sensory Engagement (Art Study Room)
This session addresses some of the multiple methods employed to engage the senses in museum programming. 
Chair: Georgia Krantz, Senior Education Manager, Adult and Access Programs, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Participants: John Bramblitt, artist; Marie Clapot, Art Beyond Sight; Doylene Land, Curator of Education, Ellen Noël Museum; D. Lynn McRainey, Chief Education Officer and Elizabeth F. Cheney Director of Education, Chicago History Museum; John Shields, Manager of Docent and Internship Programs, the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

·      The Art of Description, Part II: The Voice of Description (the Studio)
How the narrator, the language, and the delivery impact the non-visual museum experience.
Participants: Halsey Burgund, sound artist, musician; Amanda Cachia, curator; Lou Giansante, producer and writer; Carolyn Halpin-Healy, contractual educator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, executive director, Arts & Minds; Matthew Kaplowitz, Executive Director, Bridge Multimedia

·      Thinking Through the Drawing Process, Part II (Carroll Classroom)
Try your hand at “thinking through the drawing process.” This drawing workshop will take place in the galleries. Participation in Thinking through the Drawing Process, Part I not necessary.   
William Crow, Managing Museum Educator for School and Teacher Programs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, artist; Andrea Kantrowitz, artist and teacher  

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Conference Recap and discussion (Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall)


Sunday, October 28, 2012
9:30 a.m.  – 5:00 p.m. - New York City Museum and Gallery Tours, Demonstrations, and Observations













Access programs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art are made possible by Description: ML logo

Access programs are also made possible by the generous support of Filomen M. D'Agostino Foundation. 
Additional support has been provided by The Ceil & Michael E. Pulitzer Foundation, Renate, Hans & Maria Hofmann Trust, Estate of Susan D. Rich, Jane B. Wachsler, Allene Reuss Memorial Trust, The Murray G. and Beatrice H. Sherman Charitable Trust, Estate of Doris Alperdt, and Dorothy S. Fried Trust.

Art Beyond Sight public programs are supported by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and Clifford Chance, as well as these generous donors Blair Axel, Edgar D. and Nancy P. Aronson, Robert J. and Susan Bishop, Joseph M. and Barbara Cohen, Jay and Pam Greenblatt, Richard and Marianna Kilbride, Gary and Sarah Wolkowitz, and Nicholas R. and Whitney Williams.

Art Beyond Sight also thanks the Travelers Foundation and the many NYC Travelers employees who have volunteered to make this conference possible since 2005.