The OPEN Expertise Centre and Rubi – The Cultural Factory want to make the art collection housed at Antwerp University accessible to the widest possible audience: students, staff, visitors – both those with a disability and those without. We therefore initiated a project for the Museum to Scale collection to enable anyone with an interest in art to enjoy an inclusive art experience. The collection is on display in Building R on the university’s City Campus.

The aim of this project is to develop a multilingual and inclusive (audio) guide to a selection of six artworks and also to create two ‘feeling’ artworks. The project has its roots in some key principles that align with the current movement towards greater diversity and inclusion.

The first key principle is participation. Experienced users and artists were central to this project. We therefore collaborated with sound designer Yannick Heeren, artists Tonia In den Kleef and Nadia Naveau, actress and performer Hilde Verhelst, poet Max Greyson, Visual Box, user organisations Doof Vlaanderen and VeBeS, and audio writer Geertje Deceuleneer. Our thanks must also go to Guy Kleinblatt for his photography and Ernest van Buynder, Geert Lernout and Emma-Louise Silva for voicing the guides.

The second key principle is inclusion: A Touch of Museum to Scale aims to bring together diverse audiences through the use of the same audio guide. We therefore hope that everyone – art connoisseurs and lay people, young and old, sign language users and individuals with or without a sensory impairment – will be able to experience the art collection together without encountering any barriers.

Third and finally, in this project we wanted to experiment with all the senses simultaneously: text, word, music, touch. So we responded to questions such as: How can visual art be experienced more than just visually? Can poetry and music help visitors to experience the works more deeply? How do you experience art with your hands?

Find out the answers to these questions in A Touch of Museum to Scale.​

The OPEN Forum is a biennial study day that embodies the intersection of research, artistic practice, policy and experiential expertise. It aims to build bridges between the different sectors and fields that deal with accessibility as a positive and practical way of exchanging knowledge and experience.

Past editions

OPEN Forum 2019: The first OPEN Forum took place in February 2019, with more than 90 participants from six different countries. The event brought together various stakeholders from the media and culture sector: researchers, trainers, translators, representatives of technology and media companies, cultural institutions, service providers, users, policy-makers, NGOs and many more. 

In 2019, the focus was on the opportunities for and challenges to accessibility services in the media and culture sector that are presented by technological innovation. Several speakers covered topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), the new accessibility legislation, and the research and activities relating to media accessibility.

OPEN Forum 2022 (online Corona edition): The second OPEN Forum took place on 10 February 2022 as an online event entitled 'Innovation for Accessibility: Best Practices'. It brought together cultural and media companies, user organisations, accessibility experts, artists, practitioners, research groups and businesses in the media and cultural sector to discuss innovative projects and best practices.

More than 80 people registered for this two-day conference. And 30 speakers from three continents and more than 10 different countries presented on a wide range of topics. These presentations ranged from media accessibility at arts festivals and AI solutions to audiovisual content analysis through to automatic subtitling for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. The event concluded with a panel discussion led by leading experts in the fields of accessibility and the arts.

The 2024 edition coincided with the large, international Media for All 10 congress that OPEN co-organized with the research group TricS. Much of this congress was about accessibility and innovative techniques for media, film, TV and the arts.

Our team of doctoral students in the TricS research group also organizes many academic activities for young researchers.

Discover it on the website of the OPEN research network.​