Measuring the Immeasurable. Communicating Perspective-Based Painted Spaces to the Blind

Abstract

This paper deals with the challenge of making perspective-based painted spaces tangible and accessible, and therefore measureable, by those who cannot rely on sight. Is it possible to do so by means of alternative channels? The answer to this question can be found in the tools of representation: the space obtained through the reversed procedure of linear perspective allows the creation of a three-dimensional model of such space that can be explored through touch. Architectures painted according to the principles of perspective have been historically translated into tactile language by resorting to the bas-relief. The research presents a reflection on such didactic device, suggesting the application of accelerated solid perspective to the restituted space. In this way, distortions and convergences resulting from the application of the rules of perspective can become tactically perceivable. An educational model based on the compa- rison between the three-dimensional model of the actual restituted space and the one deformed by solid perspective is thus proposed, presenting the painted architecture of the Feast of Herod (ca 1462-1465) by Benozzo Gozzoli as a case study. The multisensory approach represents an extremely inclusive strategy: indeed, the communicative-didactic apparatus based on the involvement of extra-visual senses must be imagined and conceived as accessible for a diverse audience. As a consequence, any user can add a surplus value to their own experience, changing their own yardstick regarding the work of art and discovering a new way to relate to it.