Home Periodic Exhibitions Art beyond the visible

Art beyond the visible

Avgust Černigoj, his companions and students

Biedermeier Living Room of the Coronini Counts

Retrospective photo exhibition of Goran Antlej "Inkognito"

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GO S50-60

Art Beyond the Visible is an exhibition divided into two main parts. The first part is called The World that Exists, where existing examples of good practices from Slovenia and Italy are presented. It features copies and adaptations of visual and other works of art, which allow us to present to visitors the history of art from ancient Greece to the present day.

The majority of the exhibits, i.e. eight, were borrowed from the State Tactile Museum the Omero in Ancona, and three were borrowed from the Anteros Museum in Bologna, where they are engaged in converting two-dimensional forms into tactile reliefs. We also visited both museums, and the collaboration with the Italian museums provided us with direct insight into the best practices of tactile exhibitions in neighbouring Italy. In cooperation with the company Gruppo mosaicisti Ravenna, the Foundation Society for the Preservation of the Basilica in Aquileia we obtained a tactile copy of the mosaic and reproductions of motifs from the Basilica of Aquileia for the exhibition.

The exhibition also features objects created as a result of the collaboration between the Goriški muzej Regional Museum, the Inter-Municipal Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired, individuals and institutions that prepared adapted copies or reliefs. For the tactile painting by Tone Kralj titled Meeting, Kristina Naglost received the Valvasor Award in 2021. Tactile copies of Černigoj’s graphics were created in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts and Design at the University of Ljubljana (ALUO). Here, mentors Mag. Boštjan Drinovec and Kristina Rutar engaged students from the Unique Design study programme to prepare ceramic reliefs.

A considerable number of copies were also created at the initiative of the Goriški muzej Regional Museum. Student Tjaša Cigoj prepared a stone copy of the Rusjan Monument, while students from the Forestry and Wood Technology School in Postojna created a tactile model of the Solkan Bridge. The project was led by Professor Marko Nabergoj and students?. We are also proud of our cooperation with foreign partners: students from the Art High School in Ladina di Fassa (Trentino region, Italy) prepared seven tactile relief copies of the famous 19th and 20th century works under the mentorship of Professor Tiziano Deflorian. Four of these are placed in the central part of the exhibition, while the others are displayed in the temporary section. We have also made an agreement with the Max Fabiani High School from Gorizia, where students will prepare tactile copies for the gallery in the second part of the 2024/25 academic year.

We introduced visitors to the Slovenian Impressionists through a relief of the work Ovčice (Sheep) by Rihard Jakopič. This relief, along with other educational aids, was created at the Department of Restoration at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) under the mentorship of Mag. Tamara Trček Pečak. In collaboration with the National Gallery and the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering from the University of Ljubljana, we obtained a tactile three-dimensional version of the painting titled The Coffee Drinker by the painter Ivana Kobilca, . In cooperation with the non-profit foundation Palazzo Coronini Cronberg Palace, we produced a copy of Messerschmidt’s Head. Together with the Carinthian Gallery of Fine Arts, we prepared two copies of Begić's Raven and contributed to also making the gallery there more accessible to blind individuals. In addition, we have added a model of the facade of Palazzo Marino in Milan to the exhibition; made by students of the Brera Academy in Milan.

This part of the exhibition is also important from a didactic point of view, as it allows us to take not only people with visual impairments through the history of art, but also school-age children, who can learn about individual artistic periods through touch. The project has always had an important educational function, as we provided training on blindness and visual impairment to the participating students. We have enhanced the educational significance of the exhibition with a special collaboration: we established contact with San Jose State University in the USA and the Faculty of Education in Maribor. Together with professors Dr. Lara Ervin-Kassab (SJSU) and Dr. Jerneja Herzog (PEF UNI MB), we enriched the exhibition with an inclusive educational programme for school groups, teachers, and families. Dr. Aksinja Kermauner was also involved in the latter.

We, the participating partners, are even more proud of the second part of the exhibition, which is called The World that is Emerging. This section includes an experimental collaboration between artists and users in creating the adapted works of art. With the help of the Artes association and two curators, Alfred De Locatelli and Primož Pugelj, we invited 17 artists from Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia to join the project. Among them were sculptors, painters, a graphic designer, and conceptual artists. The selection of materials was so fortunate that the collection of 17 artworks in the exhibition is very diverse. A fundamental part of this experiment was firstly the education provided at two meetings, where the artists learned the basics of blindness and visual impairment. They participated in guided tours with blind and visually impaired individuals, and last but not least, allowed their artworks to be touched. Our goal was to encourage the participants to adapt their usual artistic processes so that the newly created works would be suitable for touching. Most of them had already captured the essence of adaptation in the drafts they submitted, and with some of them, we took this step together.

Since the very beginning, we have also been aware that documenting meetings and later visits to studios and exhibitions is essential for understanding the project itself. At first we filmed the first meetings ourselves, and later, we invited the Academy of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica to participate. The experienced professor Jasna Hribernik took the reins of the production of the video. In 2024, filming in the field followed: the exhibition The Wrong Ship by Damijan Kracina at the Božidar Jakac Gallery in Kostanjevica na Krki, visits to the studios of Boštjan Drinovec, Zora Stančič, Primož Pugelj, and Boris Zaplatil, and other artists, who we also got to know with the blind and visually impaired individuals at the Silva Lapidea exhibition, which was on display until March 2024 in nearby Gorizia. In June, we added two very intense moments to the video material: first, the burning of Damijan Kracina’s sculpture in the Solkan quarry, and later, the filming of a workshop by the artist Giulia Iacolutti in Pordenone (Italy). The way in which the blind children interacted with clay and shaped various emotions in it had a profound impact on everyone present. Aware that the exhibition video alone would not be accessible to everyone, we subtitled it, added sign language in three languages, and included an audio description of the film for blind users. For the adaptation, we turned to the Society of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing of Northern Primorska and other content adaptation experts.

Before the start of the 2024/25 academic year, we officially concluded another planned partnership, this time with the Faculty of Education of the University of Primorska. Under the mentorship of Professor Dr. Mateja Maljevac, students of Inclusive Pedagogy prepared texts for audio descriptions of the displayed works, which we later translated and recorded in the studio, providing audio descriptions in three languages.

The exhibition, which has been created by collective effort, not only opens the door to adaptation in other museums and galleries but also establishes a platform for new forms of collaboration. With this project, we have proven that through education and collaboration, it is possible to develop sustainable solutions for accessibility and expand the boundaries of understanding art, making it inclusive for all visitors, regardless of their abilities.

David Kožuh
Foto: Katarina Brešan

Location: Mercator center Nova Gorica

From: 21 Mar 2025
Till: 13 Dec 2025

Curator: David Kožuh