Tactile, a Valletta 2018 exhibition featuring 12 concealed sculptures intended to never be seen, aims to reverse any preconceived notions of the ‘normal’ process of perceiving visual art exclusively through sight. Set up at the University’s Valletta campus, Simonne Pace finds out that visitors can only admire the works of art blindfolded.

In these last couple of years there have been other art exhibitions that opened the doors to the visually impaired and the blind. Tactile, however, is the first international exhibition where local artists are brought together with others from Japan, France and Italy under one roof.

Christine Mifsud, who is visually impaired, interacts with a sculpture by Noel Galea Bason.

Subconsciously, this exhibition has been germinating for years, “perhaps since when I saw a film based on Jose Saramago’s novel Blindness,” its curator Jesmond Vassallo says.

“Then, finally, before May 2017, I submitted a written proposal through the Valletta Design Cluster to be considered for a funding competition organised by the EU Japan Fest,” he adds.

The project was well received and Vassallo was given the first grant to accomplish a research period that had to take placein Japan. He chose to remainin Tokyo, where he met and discussed this idea with various artists, architects and other professionals.

“Following this research, I kept on distilling the concept and carrying out tests, meeting with visually impaired people and doing trials to make sure the idea would arrive clearly to the public,” he says.

Vassallo does not have a personal story behind the setting up of this exhibition.

However, during his university years, he got to know Kevin Cutajar, who is visually im­paired and was pursuing his studies in law.

“Two decades later, he was the first person I contacted when I wanted to go deeper into the Tactile project,” Vassallo says.

Inclusion comes in numerous stages. The first step is to try to envisage and feel how these people feel

After numerous meetings, he also started contacting the various associations that deal with visual impairment, and found a lot of support and encouragement. Joe Stafrace, Frans Tirchette, Christine Mifsud and Alfred Reale were all very helpful and available to carry out various tests and studio visits hosted by some of the participating artists.

Vassallo explains that sculpture is a three-dimensional art form. This language embodiesa power to convey emotions through form and texture, rather than colour. This tactile language is very direct, and it is precisely because of the medium’s strong and directly tangible transmission of aesthetic values that he chose to focus on sculpture.

“It’s not an easy task for a sighted individual to experience an exhibition wearing a blindfold. The process of understanding takes longer, and the person may never even understand what the subject or piece actually is – but this is not the aim of the exhibition either. What is important is that a visi­tor using the sense of touch is intrigued by the fact that this is a similar process to learning a new language,” he explains.

Visitors will be able to feel and interact with every single millimetre of the sculptors’ works using their sense of touch. This intimate approach to understanding a work of art is an illuminating experience.

Vassallo believes that the sense of touch is very primordial, direct and powerful.

He anticipates that visitors will experience inquisitiveness and empathy and that the exhibition will also present a rarely explored approach for the sighted to understand art through sightless faculties – which is ultimately how visually impaired people experience realities around them on a daily basis.

“It will lead to a closer understanding of this community that’s largely overlooked when visual art projects and events are held with the aim of involving the public.”

The project, he said, will certainly shed light on the organ of sight, while at the same time raising awareness and instigating discussion among artists and the public about blindness and visual impairment.

“Inclusion comes in numerous stages. The first step is to try to envisage and feel how these people feel. The rest will come along as a result, because the first step is the most difficult.”

Vassallo referred to his choice of artists, who imme­diately accepted to collaborate when he initially briefed them about the project.

“The specific textures and media used contributed to another quality I kept very much in focus when I was choosing the participating artists. The selection of artworks for the Tactile exhibition depended on their tactile and temperature qualities. The visual poetry was not a priority in this case,” he says.

The exhibition, part of the Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture Programme in collaboration with Valletta Design Cluster and the EU Japan Fest Japan Committee, is being held at the University of Malta Valletta Campus, from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm, and on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm. It will remain open to the public until November 4, on which day it will be open from 10am to 1pm. The artworks will only be available for viewing (i.e. not blindfolded), after the exhibition closes.