In 2016, with a sweeping building expansion, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) reaffirmed its commitment to act as the gateway to the art for our time and reveal fresh ways of seeing, thinking and engaging with its collection and contributing artists. To further these visitor-centric objectives, the SFMOMA teamed up with Seattle-based design studio Belle & Wissell to co-create an interpretive gallery on the museum’s second floor. Here, two self-guided experiences wait.
The first, the Wall Experience, presents a series of large interactive “posters.” With a swipe on its screen, visitors can explore thematic connections between collection objects. A touch presents the hidden stories contained in artworks at magnified scale, and with another, you can peek into an artist’s studio and creative process. On the other side of the room, the complementary Table Experience—triggered when visitors select pairings of evocative words and images—enables one to go deeper into narrative stories.
In finalizing these experiences, Belle & Wissell also bested a unique challenge: making all content accessible to visitors with low vision or without sight. It found a solution in audio feedback. Named Eyes-Free Mode, the innovation preserves the unique content presentation that sighted visitors experience by delivering spoken responses to touch-based interactions. In this gallery, the experiences serve all SFMOMA visitors as a gateway to the art for our time.
The first, the Wall Experience, presents a series of large interactive “posters.” With a swipe on its screen, visitors can explore thematic connections between collection objects. A touch presents the hidden stories contained in artworks at magnified scale, and with another, you can peek into an artist’s studio and creative process. On the other side of the room, the complementary Table Experience—triggered when visitors select pairings of evocative words and images—enables one to go deeper into narrative stories.
In finalizing these experiences, Belle & Wissell also bested a unique challenge: making all content accessible to visitors with low vision or without sight. It found a solution in audio feedback. Named Eyes-Free Mode, the innovation preserves the unique content presentation that sighted visitors experience by delivering spoken responses to touch-based interactions. In this gallery, the experiences serve all SFMOMA visitors as a gateway to the art for our time.
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