Authors: Sally Booth, Maria Oshodi, Julia Schauerman and Steve Webber
www.radiogallery.org

The increasing desire of visually impaired people to fully participate in cultural life and the implementation of disability rights legislation has focused the minds of galleries and arts professionals. This has led to a discourse that has gone beyond the bounds of access and is contributing to a wider examination of long accepted norms embedded within the art world. Progressive thinking in the context of art and visual impairment has led to a wider questioning of the dominance of vision in the hierarchy of the senses.

Pressure for equal access, both as audiences and practitioners, demands the abandonment of old stereotypical responses on the part of the arts establishment and an acknowledgement of and engagement with new perspectives.

Inspired by the book ‘Sight Unseen’ a discourse in the form of a correspondence carried out between two philosophers Martin Milligan who was blind from birth and Brian Magee who is sighted. This programme will draw upon its contributors diverse experience to attempt to create a piece of radio art which explores new perspectives in representing ‘visual’ arts in a non visual context tackling some of the philosophical and practical implications involved in this.

With contributions from Tony Brennan, Mark Lawson, Paul Margrave, Bonny Mitchell, Sarah Owen, Arti Prashar, John Schauerman, Marie Schauerman and Julie Takata. And special thanks to Velda.