Art welcomes you: sign language videos arrive in Rome's museums

Rome’s Civic Museums welcome the deaf (and others) with videos in Italian Sign Language (LIS).

After an initial launch at Palazzo Braschi, “Art Welcomes You” made its debut as part of Roma Capitale’s “Museums to Touch” program .

Each museum involved in the project has a multimedia totem featuring one of these three-minute videos made with theState Institute for the Deaf. The videos are also available with subtitles.

’’This is the first time we have been able to work on such an organic project in the museums of the Municipality of Rome,’ ’Luca Bianchi of the State Institute for the Deaf toldANSA .’’ It is a step forward toward people, who are too often excluded from culture. Yesterday the framework law for the rights of the deaf was approved in the Senate. We are confident that it will go through before the end of the legislature.’’

’’We want the Civic Museums ,’’Federica Pirani, head of exhibitions for the Capitoline Superintendency, explains instead , ’’to be a truly public space, open to all, where citizens can feel at home. This new initiative will be a ’welcome’ to everyone, including the able-bodied.’’ A path, the one toward maximum accessibility, ’’started a long time ago,’’ he says, ’’but it is since 2015 that we have started to make a system. For example, with the Museums to Touch experience, with which in 2016 we made 50 tactile visits. And then there is theMultisensory Room at the Macro, Art for the blind at the Ara Pacis, the Biennale Arteinsieme 2017, Intergam at the Gallery of Modern Art. The plan is to involve all 18 Civic Museums, to offer a ’comfort zone’. But it is also an extremely enriching experience for us.’’

’’An experience,’’ the deputy mayor of Rome and councillor for cultural growth ,Luca Bergamo, also explained to ANSA , ’’a concrete expression of certain values and challenges that we are unaccustomed to. If there is no great empathy, curiosity, sense of belonging to the same community that communication does not happen. By coming across that form of expression we are also stimulated to ask questions. To increase the rights of sign language speakers is to recognize universal rights.’’

At the moment there are eleven Civic Museums involved in this project: in addition to Palazzo Braschi, there are also the Mercati di Traiano-Museo dei Fori imperiali, Centrale Montemartini, Museo Carlo Botti-Aranciera di Villa Borghese, Museo Pietro Canonica, Musei di Villa Torlonia (with Casina delle Civette and Casino Nobile), MuseoNapoleonico, Museo dell’Ara Pacis, Galleria d’Arte moderna and soon the Musei Capitolini.

Art welcomes you: sign language videos arrive in Rome's museums

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