Throughout 2002/3 the Museum of Installation has collaborated with the Brazilian/Canadian artist Alexander Pilis in an exciting visual arts and educational project entitled, 'Architecture Parallax: Visual Crisis, This exhibition aims to promote the visual arts to the visually impaired by involving partially sighted and blind members of the public in a project that directly addresses the idea of visuality.
The project encourages the audience to explore the city as multi-sensory landscape by examining the cross over between the sighted and blind. The project will involve site-specific events at major London organisations such as Sir John Sane Museum, Hackney Empire, Tate Modern and British Airways London Eye and will commence on October 27th 2003 Invited individuals from various professions will act as guides (interfaces) and offer an interpretation of each site to mixed groups consisting of visually impaired and sighted members of the public. Students from the London Metropolitan University will participate by documenting these events with four MinD cameras and audio equipment. The visual and audio material accumulated from these tours will be exhibited at Unit 2 Gallery, London Metropolitan University, from November 12* to December 12th 2003.
The project will be promoted extensively to the visually impaired through, Action for Blind People, RIB, European Blind Union and Educational Sensory Units for all London Boroughs. Before and during the production stages of the project, interpretive material in both text and Braille will be available.
To ensure that the visually impaired are able to relate to the unique environment that each of the sites offer, the Museum of Installation will be collaborating with June Bretherton who is a visually impaired consultant who has worked extensively with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). In her capacity as consultant to the Museum of Installation and the artist, Alexander Pilis, she will provide awareness training to all participants involved in the project including the artist, interfaces, members of MOl's production team and students from London Metropolitan University.
The RIB and Action for Blind People have posted this exhibition on their web site. This project has an open copyright and is available for public access. Alexander Pilis is an artist, architect and curator based in Barcelona. He is the founder of Achimemoria, Canada and www.architecture-parallax.net, a non profit organisation established to broaden the links between art, architecture, science and perception. He has participated in many international exhibitions, including Galleries in Canada, the I.F.A Public Art Galley, Stuttgart, Germany and the Tapies Foundation Barcelona Spain. The Museum of Installation has been invited to participate in a symposium on Architecture Parallax: Theoretical Cabaret at La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain in December 2003 organised by the artist. This exhibition has been supported by the Canadian High Commission, South East London Community Foundation, London Metropolitan University, NEC and all the participating sites.
Sites:
Sir John Soane Museum, A museum open since the early 19 Century, which houses a unique collection of antiquities and works which belonged to the architect Sir John Sone.
British London Eye, The world's largest observation wheel which offers a new and exciting panoramic perspective of London.
Creative Perfumers, Customised scents created for clients within an exclusive laboratory.
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Part of the National Maritime Museum.
Hackney Empire, One of the most exceptional theatres in London which features an exciting mix of new variety, comedy, drama, music and dance.
Eltham Palace, Opulent Art Deco interiors as well as grand medieval architecture.
The Old Operating Theatre, Museum and Herb Garret, Britain's oldest operating theatre displaying the History of Medicine, Surgery and Nursing
The Laban International School of Dance, One of the largest Contemporary International Dance Schools.
Tate Modern, One of the largest Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries in the world, situated in the heart of London.
Geffrye Museum, The only museum to show a specialist collection of English Interiors and Decorative Arts in chronological series of period rooms.