The Angel - A multisensory exhibition for the blind and partially sighted

The Focus exhibition introduces a multisensory method, developed by Croatian art historian Nataša Jovičić, in which a painting is explored through touch and sound. The programme is intended primarily for the blind and partially sighted, but it is also of interest to the seeing.

Hugo Simberg´s painting The Wounded Angel (1903) is one of the most beloved works in Finnish art. It speaks to viewers in many ways - there are as many interpretations of the picture as there are viewers. When Simberg first exhibited the work in the annual show of the Finnish Art Society, its title was just a dash - the artist´s way of saying there is no single, correct interpretation. All viewers create the meaning of the piece for themselves, experiencing it in a personal way. Nataša Jovičić´s method also produces new interpretations.

Listen to the audio guide while touching the relief pictures on the table as instructed. The audio guide is available in Finnish, Swedish, English and Croatian.

Nataša Jovičić

Nataša Jovičić (1962) lives and works in Zagreb. After earning a Master of Arts degree in Chicago, USA, she worked as adjunct professor at the DePaul University in Chicago. Since returning to Croatia, she has worked from 2002 as Director of the Jasenovac Holocaust Museum.

As an art historian and art educator, Jovičić has since 1997 had a deep and sustained interest to make art accessible to the blind and partially sighted. She has developed new methods and tools for art education for the express purpose of making masterpieces of art more accessible to them. An important part of her work is collaboration with brain scientists, including researchers at Aalto University. As a result of ten years of research, Jovičić opened the first permanent exhibition of touchable art at the Modern Gallery in Zagreb in 2009.

In addition to the Ateneum Art Museum, Jovičić has presented her method at Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, at National Gallery in Oslo, at Tate Modern and the Palace of Westminster in London, the Guggenheims in New York and Bilbao, and at the Art institute of Chicago.

Nataša Jovičić´s work is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, the Swiss and the US Embassy in Zagreb, the Society for the Promotion of the Education for the Blind and Partially Sighted in Zagreb, as well as private individuals, including Rt Hon. David Blunkett MP from the UK, who is blind himself.

For more information about Nataša Jovičić and her work, see ditacta.tumblr.com