Multisensory integration and inclusivity in visual arts communication. Blind users and perception of perspectival painted spaces

Ever since the Renaissance, most part of Western painting has been characterized by the application of linear perspective. However, the two-dimensional nature of paintings makes it impossible for blind individuals to truly appreciate such a unique heritage, as their visual impairment prevents them from experiencing perspectival illusions that are typical of vision. Is it possible to really understand the value of a painting by Piero Della Francesca without acknowledging the role played by perspective? Today, in a world that is trying to become more inclusive, it is unacceptable to deny an entire – though small - category of users the fruition of artworks in which the comprehension of how perspective’s rules define space and composition is inextricably bound to the understanding of their profound meaning. The paper tries to reflect on the possibility to fill (at least partly) the existing fruition gap between the sighted and the blind that currently distinguishes the majority of visual arts communication strategies designed by museums. Descriptive geometry’s traditional techniques, like photogrammetry and geometric restitution of perspective, combined with the use of new technologies, like 3D printing, can be crucial in the translation of 2D spaces in 3D models which can be experienced through touch. Moreover, a multisensory approach represents an opportunity also for sighted users to enrich their knowledge: an alternative aesthetic experience that stimulates other senses is able to transmit new significances by avoiding the extremely crowded sense of vision.