Listen-Touch-Feel

“Listen-Touch-Feel” is a museum-educational activity of the EcoMuseum Zagori for people with visual disabilities. Specially designed for this target group, it focused on a series of experiential activities of an educational nature in historical stone bridges of Zagori, within the boundaries of the protected areas of the UNESCO-listed Vikos-Aoos Geopark and the North Pindos National Park. Specifically, the interpretive tour and the audio walk (echo-walk) took place in three stone bridges of Zagori outside the village of Kipi (Bridge of Kokkoris, Bridge of Plakidas or Kalogeriko or three-arch, and the Bridge of the Mill) and was supported by supplementary museum structures in the form of 3D printed models and material from the sound recording during the hiking tour, i.e., the soundscape. An important part of the programme was also the 3D reconstructions-models of the geomorphology of the route and the bridges, which allowed a closer inspection by the participants. The total number of participants was ten (plus ten escorts), for safety reasons and to comply with the health protocols in force in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The programme had a duration of three hours, taking as its starting point the arrival at the plateau at the bridge of the Kokkoris. The first phase was dedicated to the cultural heritage of the region, focusing on the history and architecture of the bridges. While listening to the information conveyed by the museum guides, they inspected the models so that they could better understand what was being said. Then followed the educational tour of the three aforementioned bridges. With the help of the guides, the participants walked the bridges, listened to information about them and shared their experience with the organizers and the other participants in a walking discussion.

The second phase of the project focused on the natural heritage of the area and biodiversity, through an educational audio walk to record sonic biodiversity, led by expert scientific staff, volunteers and EcoMuseum members. The audio walk, which occupied a central role in the structure of the project, was a means for participants to develop a more attentive listening to the natural landscape and, by extension, an experiential experience, empathy, understanding and interpretation of biodiversity on pathways of high environmental interest. The sound walk was led by Mr. Karageorgos during which participants had the opportunity to walk and observe the sounds of nature after special concentration exercises. The sound walk requires concentration, observation, but also coordination and cooperation from the group, as one member has the special equipment for augmented sound recording and the rest must silently follow. All members can take the equipment and headphones and listen to the recording, an immersive experience that allows for in-depth listening to the surroundings. Complementing the programme, a short walk was added to the programme, coordinated by the team of the Management Body of the North Pindos National Park, focusing on the biodiversity of the Zagori area.

The people who participated in the programme proved that when there is a willingness on both sides, people with disabilities can be fully functional and participate in all aspects of social, political and cultural life. The Ecomuseum hopes that the successful example of this museum-educational application will be the starting point for other similar actions that claim equal access for all people to public space and cultural life. In subsequent applications of the programme in special audiences, an attempt will be made to broaden the audience that can attend this programme, as true inclusion does not lie in the isolation and ‘special treatment’ of groups, but in the equal participation, inclusion and acceptance of all diversity. The ultimate aim is to create a field of interface between different individuals through the EcoMuseum, an active “forum” for the community and the visitors. Such pluralistic coexistence can only enrich communities, as dialogue and diversity teach more effectively than any museum application.

Funding source: Ioannis S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation through the “Points of Support” programme

Duration: 2021 onwards

Partners: EcoMuseum Zagori, Service of Modern Monuments and Technical Works of Epirus, Northern Ionian and Western Macedonia, Fab-Lab Innovation Centre of Ioannina