Please Touch: Art and Matter is an innovative tactile exhibition designed specifically for people who are visually challenged. The exhibition draws on their sensory approach to sculpture and creates new experiences for audiences of all kinds. The goal is to foster a better understanding of artworks by touching reproductions of them. Another important objective of this project is to raise awareness of otherness through the tactile perception by the blind and visually impaired while developing an ambitious accessibility policy for all people with disabilities.

The Please Touch exhibition was developed in 2016 by the Musée Fabre de Montpellier, in partnership with the Louvre Museum in Paris and was informed by North American best practices at this time. The content of the tactile gallery is expected to grow as the exhibition travels to the museums in the FRAME network. The gallery continues to be enriched with inclusive educational materials and devices which include bilingual tour guides, a booklet in Braille and large print, and an easy-to-read publication that meet the needs of all audiences. FRAME is pleased to encourage the development of these tools designed by and shared with member museums in the network.

In keeping with the FRAME’s mission to foster collaborations among its members, this tactile gallery will continue to circulate among the museums in the network.

Here is the exhibition schedule:

April 13- September 22, 2019, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

February 4 – September 18, 2022, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen

October 20, 2022 – February 27, 2023, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille

June 2, 2023 – January 7, 2024, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux

March 2024 to December 2024, Musée d’Arts de Nantes