Students and staff of the seminar ‘Easy and simple language’ at TU Dresden are developing an innovative concept for accessible communication in museums. A co-operation between the Chair of Linguistics and History of German, the study programme Media Computer Science and the well-known Albertinum museum of contemporary art of Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden is developing personalised audio guides for visitors with cognitive impairment. Additionally, from summer 2019, there will be a new co-operation with the State Palaces, Castles and Gardens of Saxony gGmbH, namely the Meissen Albrechtsburg Castle.

In order to find out which of the museum’s artworks are especially interesting and the reason behind this, art historians are giving guided tours through the Albertinum. During these tours, all conversations regarding the art objects are recorded and transcribed. In this way, the most interesting pieces of art for this target group will be identified. Explanations in easily accessible language will then be created that will be spoken and recorded by students. The CSW-Christliche Sozialwerk gGmbH Dresden is supporting the selection of the pieces as a co-operation partner.

These audio files will be available to visitors through a mobile website, which will open after scanning a barcode at the exhibit. The Albertinum is an especially suitable partner institution for this project, as frequent changes within the rooms of the exhibition generally make the placement of printed background information more challenging.

The approach of weaving accessible communication directly into the development of the contents is an aspect that is unique to German museums. There is an enormous additional benefit to this participatory research. So far, the actual target group had only been involved in the final stage of such development processes for testing the results.

The project ‘Accessible Communication in the Albertinum’ facilitates true participation at the interface of science and the public, to the benefit of all partners. The project is conducted in co-operation with the Martinsclub Bremen e.V., the Stiftung Drachensee e.V. Kiel, the Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin (DHM), the partners of DRESDEN-concept and the Chair of Applied Linguistics at TU Dresden.

Information for Journalists:

Prof. Dr. Alexander Lasch
Technische Universität Dresden | School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Institute of German Studies | Chair of Linguistics and History of German
Telephone: +49 351 463 324 54
Mail: alexander.lasch@tu-dresden.de