Sensing Art: at Pinacoteca di Brera Milan, Art is Experienced Through Sound Using AI Glasses
Making cultural heritage increasingly accessible means allowing more people to know it, explore it, and build a personal relationship with art. The evolution of wearable technologies and artificial intelligence opens up new possibilities to make this experience more inclusive.
It is from this ambition that “Sensing Art - Discovering Masterpieces Beyond What Meets the Eye” is born, a trial conceived and promoted by Meta, Pinacoteca di Brera, and EssilorLuxottica, in collaboration with Associazione Nazionale Subvedenti (ANS), Unione Italiana dei Ciechi e degli Ipovedenti (UICI), and Fondazione Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano, with the goal of testing new forms of cultural accessibility for blind and visually impaired people. A particularly relevant issue in Italy, where cultural heritage plays a central role and moderate or severe visual limitations affect 18.6% of the population.
Presented in Milan, the project also received the institutional support of Alessandra Locatelli, Minister for Disabilities, who shared a video message highlighting the value of the initiative and its potential for further development: “The project developed at the Pinacoteca di Brera with Meta and EssilorLuxottica shows how new technologies and artificial intelligence can be put at the service of people and inclusion. A tool that can truly improve the quality of life of blind and visually impaired people, combining autonomy and independence in mobility with access to culture, which must be accessible and open to everyone. This is the real shift: reducing those barriers that can sometimes be physical, sometimes sensory, and sometimes cultural, and giving everyone the opportunity to pursue their passions. I hope this important trial can become a model to be replicated in many other museums and cultural venues, so that every person can truly feel fully included as a citizen”.
The initiative represents one of the first museum trials in the world using AI glasses developed by Meta and EssilorLuxottica within a visit experience dedicated to blind and visually impaired people. The technology integrates with the “Grande Brera” app, offering an alternative to the traditional way of experiencing the DescriVedendo tour, which for 10 years has helped visitors discover some of the museum's most significant artworks.
“Making heritage accessible means creating the conditions so that everyone can build their own relationship with art. DescriVedendo has for years represented an important part of our commitment, and today we can enrich it with an additional possibility, born from the encounter between cultural expertise, technology, and people's experience. The Pinacoteca continues to be a place of experimentation in which to explore new languages and tools capable of bringing a universal heritage closer to an ever-wider audience.” -Angelo Crespi, Director General at Grande Brera and Cenacolo Vinciano
The tour guides visitors to discover eight masterpieces from the collection, through three different pieces of content for each work developed according to the ANS DescriVedendo method: the morphological description, which translates shapes, composition, details, and visual features of the works into words; the historical-artistic overview; and the artist's biography, freely accessible according to each visitor's preferences. Already existing content is now enriched with a new access tool, continuing the path undertaken by the museum to make its heritage increasingly accessible.
With AI glasses, DescriVedendo's audio descriptions become accessible through a hands-free experience. Once standing in front of one of the eight works included in the tour, the visitor can activate artwork recognition from the glasses and listen directly to the corresponding audio descriptions from the speakers built into the temples, minimizing interaction with the smartphone and allowing, thanks to open-ear audio, full awareness of the surrounding environment while maintaining focus on the visit experience. The tour is completed by short orientation tracks between one work and the next and by the ability to customize content playback, fostering greater independence and a more natural interaction with visit companions.
During the tour, visitors can also choose to utilize additional tools available through the AI glasses, based on their individual needs and preferences. The voice assistant Meta AI allows users to ask questions about the context and surrounding environment, while through integration with Be My Eyes, users can connect through the glasses with sighted volunteers and qualified operators to receive real-time support in orientation and practical task management, both during the tour and when traveling to the museum. The goal is therefore to give visitors greater freedom in how and when they explore the artworks, integrating technology and cultural content, specifically designed for a more personal visit experience.