Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community (United Nations, 2012). In Europe and around the globe, many efforts have been made in order to include people with ...visual impairments and blindness into the cultural life. The objects and artifacts exhibited in museums for people with visual impairments are available either by direct touch of the original or its 3-D reproduction. Paintings, on the other hand, require a different approach--usually a tactile adaptation is created. This paper describes the process used to create a tactile adaptation of the painting "Portrait of Empress Elisabeth of Habsburg," which hangs in the Celje Regional Museum in Slovenia as a part of the Cultural and Art Historical Collection. It was painted between 1873 and 1875 by the Austrian artist Georg Martin Ignaz Raab. The subjects who participated in this study were found with the help of the Slovenian Association of People with Visual Impairments and Blindness and the Institute for Youth with Visual Impairments and Blindness of Slovenia. The aim was to exhibit the tactile adaptation in a museum. The main criterion was, therefore, that subjects be interested in art and the exploration of art. In this study, three adaptations of the Empress Elisabeth's portrait were made, using an inkjet printer, Roland UV LEC-330. The technique enables the rendering of extremely delicate and fine lines, and numerous different textures. Along with the museum expertise and the expertise of subjects who are blind or visually impaired, using this technique for creating a tactile adaptation of fine arts for people with visual impairments enables their participation in their cultural heritage. The tactile users were very satisfied with the final adaptation of the artistic work, as has been reported by the museum after the end of the study.
Naslovnica publikacije:Rolanda Fugger Germadnik, Odsotnost smehljaja. Celjski poklicni fotografi v 19. in začetku 20. stoletja, Pokrajinski muzej Celje, Celje 2009.
