Experience

A collection of three volumes is available in bookstores published as part of the Personeper program. Accessibility in cultural places. An editorial proposal, curated by Anna Chiara Cimoli and Domenico Sergi, which contributes to the public debate on cultural accessibility addressing museums, archives, and libraries as spaces of rights, participation, and social development.
Through foreign contributions translated into Italian for the first time, original contributions specially commissioned, and an array of illustrations, the publications each tackle a macro-issue — space, language, representation — from a perspective transversal to the different cultural places.

The V&A East Storehouse in London inaugurates a new museology, transforming the storage into a radically accessible public space without predetermined routes. Through sensory tools, sign language videos, and the removal of physical barriers, the institution makes over 500,000 objects from the collection accessible. The experience transcends the traditional 'do not touch' prohibition, promoting personal exploration and direct viewing of the restoration work. The project redefines the museum as an open network of meanings, turning the 'behind the scenes' into an opportunity for active participation.

This article proposes the use of fairy tales as an interpretative and design tool for accessibility in museums and cultural venues. Through concrete experiences, it demonstrates how the fairy tale structure – comprised of thresholds, stages, and transformations – can guide inclusive and multisensory exhibition itineraries. Fairy tales thus become a tool capable of integrating different languages ​​(visual, corporeal, and auditory), facilitating audience comprehension and emotional engagement. From this perspective, accessibility is not simply the removal of barriers, but a cultural and ethical practice that enhances a plurality of perceptions and narratives. Finally, the symbolic and political dimension of fairy tales opens up alternative visions of society, promoting justice, reciprocity, and social transformation.

The article describes the actions of the Museo dell'Ara Pacis towards an increasingly accessible, inclusive, and participatory exhibition design. Through progressive experiments, initially aimed at specific audiences and then extended to all, accessibility becomes a structural part of the cultural project. Multisensory devices, multiple languages, and collaborations with organizations and communities transform the visiting experience. The exhibitions thus configure themselves as spaces of relationship, choice, and active interpretation. Accessibility emerges as a lever for innovation and rethinking the museum as a public service.

The text analyzes the social and cultural barriers that in Italy limit access to cultural life, considered a citizenship right and a form of community relationship. Beyond physical, economic, or territorial obstacles, symbolic and ritual signals especially weigh, making culture perceived as an elitist space, excluding those who do not master its codes. The dominant cultural imagery, not very representative of the diversity present in the country, marginalizes stories and memories of underrepresented groups, particularly people with migratory backgrounds. The text presents examples of intercultural and community practices that reduce these barriers by making museums and libraries shared and participatory places. For these changes to become structural, long-term policies based on participatory governance, linguistic plurality, and redistribution of cultural power are needed. The final challenge is to redefine the 'we' of Italian culture, recognizing diversity as a resource and condition for a broader cultural democracy.

Gino Roncaglia, in an article dedicated to the possible uses of generative multimodal artificial intelligences, focuses on a particularly interesting aspect related to accessibility, with the automatic generation of highly personalized alternative descriptions based on communicative codes, different from the primary content. 

This contribution is excerpted from the article: Generative Multimodal Artificial Intelligence in the Humanities. Some Introductory Considerations, 2024, DIGITCULT, 8 (2), 127-137.

The exhibition Le storie sono vere... Storia popolare italiana stands as a true manifesto of public culture, redefining the museum’s role as an accessible space-time to the diversity of contemporary audiences and making accessibility the guiding principle to revive the heritage of Italian traditions.

Established in 1993 and officially recognized by the Italian Parliament as a State Museum in 1999, the Museo Omero is an inclusive cultural space for everyone.