Audio Description – A Way Towards Making Art Collections More Inclusive

A Talk by Dr. Adam Drozdowski in the context of  “21 Plateaus – UNIC University Collections Network”

20 November 2024, 1 pm

Besprechungsraum des KGI, GA 2/160

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Audio Description – A Way Towards Making Art Collections More Inclusive

Audio description (AD), which is a form of verbal description of the visual aspects of a work of art, is one of the key tools supporting the accessibility of cultural institutions, such as museums and galleries, for people with various visual impairments. Thanks to the relatively high flexibility of the method, it can also be used to build a narrative around the collection, making the experience more engaging for a wide range of recipients. Using verbal description, we can emphasize key artistic, historical and cultural aspects of the collection, which makes the tool universal and beneficial also to the sighted audience. The aim of the presentation is to draw attention to the potential of using audio description  which contributes to increasing the accessibility of culture and deepening the reception experience.

Adam Drozdowski is Doctor of Humanities, graduate and assistant professor at the Institute of Art History, University of Lodz. He specializes in the history of clothing and textiles in the 19th and 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on interwar women’s fashion and the history of textile design in the Polish People’s Republic. He researches connections between art and fashion. Furthermore, he is involved in teaching methods of making art accessible to people with visual and hearing impairments, coordinator of the student audio description teams, and author of audio descriptions of the key architectural landmarks in Łódź.