Art Beyond Sight International Conference on Multimodal Approaches to Learning, October 16 and 17

[Marie Clapot]

Art Beyond Sight: Multimodal Approaches to Learning
An International Conference

Co-sponsored by Art Education for the Blind &
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York City

Art Education for the Blind (AEB) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art have set Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17 as the dates for their third biennial international conference on multimodal approaches to learning. The conference will further address the challenges faced by educators, artists, museum professionals, architects and designers to create learning opportunities and inclusive learning environments that better serve all audiences, and meet the needs of learners with sensory impairment or those who use different learning styles.

The conference will showcase best practices in classroom and museum education, as well as pioneering approaches to learning, exhibition and program design. The multidisciplinary plenary sessions that are a trademark of the Art Beyond Sight conferences will feature art historians, anthropologists, curators, neuroscientists, new media and Universal Design experts, architects and educators, who will present their diverse perspectives on disability, the senses, art and education. In addition to plenary sessions, concurrent sessions will include discussions and thought-provoking cross-disciplinary dialog focused on issues of education program design, product design, new technology and the senses, museums and learning environments in the 21st century, among other topics.

Speakers scheduled include: David Howes, Concordia University; Constance Classen, Concordia University; Pawan Sinha, MIT Harvard; Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MIT Harvard; Barbara Tversky, Teachers College/Columbia University; Lotfi Merabet, MIT Harvard; Richard Sandell, University of Leicester; Georgina Kleege, University of Berkeley; Gordon Legge, University of Minnesota; Madalina Diaconu, University of Vienna (Austria); Patrick Dvelieger, University of Leuven (Belgium); Carlos Mourao Pereira, architect (Portugal); Valerie Fletcher, Institute for Human Centered Design (MA); Douglas McCulloh, Curator of Sight Unseen
Panelists include: Mandayam A. Srinivasan, MIT Touch Lab; Michael Schneider, ESI (NY); Edmund Mooney, sound designer and artist (NY); Bruce Odland, Sound Artist (NY); Alison Jones, artist, (UK); John Bramblitt, artist (TX); Rebecca Fuller, RAF Models; Anna Schuleit, artist (NH); Eric Brun-Sanglard, Interior Designer (CA); Marcus Weisen, Museums and Galleries without Barriers (UK); Hannah Goodwin, Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Trish Maunder, Exhibit Developer/Educator, Aymeric Vildieu & Alain Mikli, Mikli (France); Venkatesh Krishnappa Chandana Art Foundation (India); Meena Vaidyanathan, Dialogue Social Enterprise (Germany - via video link); Sean White, Columbia University

There will also be Poster sessions during the conference and optional events and museum tours on Sunday, October 18.

Registration: The official registration form is posted on www.artbeyondsight.org. If you wish to have the form emailed to you, send your name and email address to: [e-mail]; with “October Conference” in the subject line.