By Gladys Pino/PNA
KAWIT, Cavite – The ‘Museo ni Emilio Aguinaldo’ or MEA is now officially a museum, ‘also’ for the blind, as it translated several art collections into 3D objects, tactile and Braille through its ‘Inside Out: Museum Unboxed’ project.
The project is under the auspices of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), Rotary Club of San Juan del Monte and Touch the Artists Vision.
MEA curator Haidee Paulette M. Bedruz said Thursday that this project “is aimed to break down the barriers and allow inclusivity to all museum audiences, including the visually impaired.”
MEA is the second museum offering this feature after Metropolitan Museum in Manila.
The translated art objects included the Battle of Binakayan, the Oathtaking in Tanza, the Aguirre sword, the Battle of Zapote, Inang Bayan and the Inauguration of the Malolos Constitution, “which can be touched by museum guests, both the sighted and the blind,” adds Bedruz.
The project, launched last Dec. 8 “will be a permanent feature of museum from thereon,” adds Bedruz.
NHCP officials, led by Director Ludovico Badoy, HSED chief Gina Batuhan, Rotary Club of San Juan del Monte President Pleshette Wee and TAV’s Annette Lee-Esparaz attended the launch activity, where visually impaired students from Ramon Magsaysay High School, together with their guardians, were the first to be treated to the new museum feature.
Joyce Lopez of the Resource for the Blind, Inc. who thinks that dioramas in museums are actually boxes with glass covers, appreciates that she can now ‘see’ the dioramas through this project.
Also present at the launch was John Baliza of DLS-CSB as partner of the project.
Together with the DLS-CSB School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies, the Audio-Visual presentation of the NHCP museums will be interpreted using sign language.
NHCP targets to apply the same features to other NHCP museums next year.
