MUNICH.- The project "An inclusive Design Experience“ which started in February 2022 aims to convey a part of the collection via videos with translation into sign language and subtitles, via audio descriptions as well as via text at different language levels to read or listen to. These new services are offered particularly to people with hearing and visual impairments, language comprehension difficulties or cognitive impairments, but they are of course freely available to all visitors. In this way, objects can be experienced in a self-determined way via the various mediation modes according to individual needs. The content will be provided digitally and can be accessed on site at the exhibited objects. In addition, the information will also be provided in English. Therefore, the project is aimed at a broad international audience and offers digital access to one of the world's most important collections of design history.
Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum already took its first steps towards accessibility and inclusion in 2020 by offering texts in easy-to-read language, which are available in analogue, digital and audio formats. The new project is intended to explore all available possibilities of barrier-free digital mediation and exemplifies how the social promise of inclusion could be realised in the State Museums of Bavaria. For this purpose, the starting position with its deficits and development potentials is analysed with the involvement of the target groups and an agenda for the project is defined. In addition to accessibility in the communication of content, this also concerns physical accessibility in the museum rooms. For example, the range of services and the infrastructure in the museum are to be expanded to include tactile objects and digital guidance systems for the blind.
The initiators of the project are Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert, director of Die Neue Sammlung, and Dr. Caroline Fuchs, curator and responsible for the project. A new position was created for the project management of "An inclusive Design Experience" which is held by the art historian and cultural manager Frauke Maria Petry since February. She brings with her experience in the field of digital art education, which she gained in Berlin and Düsseldorf. The house continues to receive professional support in the field of inclusion through "capito Munich". This location of the capito network is part of the museum agency "ARGUS! Kultur&Kommunikation. Dr. Jörg Haller will contribute his expertise in the field of communicative and physical accessibility as a cooperation partner of the project.
By working with experts in the field of inclusion and through the participation of target groups, the highest quality standards will be achieved. With its expertise and vision, Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum can contribute to the requirements of a contemporary museum.
"An inclusive Design Experience" is funded by the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst. Accessible infrastructures and content that are established through "An inclusive design experience" will be maintained after the end of the project. In this way, the concept and attitude of the museum towards "Inclusion & Museum" are secured in the long term and the digital strategy of the museum is continued.
