Vis-Ability Exhibition at QUT Art Museum

An excerpt from QUT Art Museum’s exhibition release:

The Wondrous Goggles project identifies design requirements for a portable technology to represent the experiential world of people who are blind or have low vision, with the aim of contributing to raise awareness about inclusive places for work and play. The need for this exploratory technology is predominantly educational, as a tool to inform designers, policy makers and technology developers of how people with blindness or low vision experience public spaces.
The Wondrous Googles are an Empathy Experience Device. They are specifically designed to facilitate an understanding of the navigational and spatial perception of people with low vision. A lightweight headmounted device, the Wondrous Goggles are comprised of headphones and a visor.

The device has three functions:

• audio narration by someone who is blind or has vision loss, navigating a particular place
• simulation of a low vision condition
• voice memo recording allowing users to record ideas and reflections while navigating

During use, the Wondrous Goggles provide a tool for the user to gain a sense of limited vision and provides a vehicle for the wearer to embark upon a process of feeling, sensing and reflecting while listening to the narration of someone who has navigated the space with low vision. Unlike other technologies that create virtual reality or an augmented reality based on vision alone, the Wondrous Goggles create a multisensorial empathic experience through the lived experience of a person with low vision. This project seeks to explore the design requirements for the development of a portable device that stakeholders can use to gain understanding of people’s lived experiences in order to create environments that are more inclusive.

Vis-Ability runs until 4 August 2019 at QUT Art Museum. Admission is free.

Vis-Ability is as a part of the Brisbane Art Design Festival (BAD) 2019.