For deaf and hearing-impaired people – tours in sign language
At regular intervals art educator Rainer Miebach, who is himself deaf, runs tours in German Sign Language (DGS) of the collection and of special exhibitions at Lehmbruck Museum. Dates available on request.
For the blind and visually impaired – the Lehmbruck BOX
For people affected by blindness or visual impairment, other sensory experiences take the place of sight, and a sculpture museum is particularly well suited to this. During special touch tours, the material of a sculpture becomes the main focus of perception.
Here, for reasons of conservation, some works in the collection can be touched by visually impaired people only, but there are other touch experiences available to all participants. The public Sunday tours, for example, are open not only to visually impaired people but also sighted visitors who want to share an experience with people who perceive their surroundings using other senses. Conversation and explanations from the art educators should help to enhance the sensory horizons on both sides. Dates available on request.
For people with dementia – emotional art experiences in a safe space
The Art Education department has developed a special programme for people with dementia and their caregivers and companions. All dementia sufferers are welcome to attend with those who care for them. Here, they are given the opportunity to stock up on creative resources and stimulate emotional experience within a safe space. Public tours for people with dementia and their companions are given at regular intervals. Dates available on request.
Open studio offering
Lehmbruck Museum regularly hosts an open studio for people with dementia and their companions, where the focus is primarily on practical creativity. The open studio is a place where participants can work freely and individually, whereby there is sufficient time and space to experiment with various materials. Thus, everybody has time to tap into and develop their individual artistic potential and to pursue their personal need for expression.
Open studio for people with dementia and attendant, Photo: Michael Uhlmann
Research into cultural participation among people with dementia in the museum space
How can people with dementia be given barrier-free access to art and participate in cultural life? This question forms the core of a research project at Lehmbruck Museum, which the Art Education department tackled in 2012 for museum visitors undergoing the changes associated with dementia. The aim was to foster entirely normal cultural participation and to expand the variety of offerings for people with dementia so that these sorts of tours become as standard as tours for every other target group. Armed with this study and a specially developed training module for art educators, the team of researchers supports art museums in Germany to develop and implement their own concepts for cultural participation among people with dementia in extensive workshops.
The research project entitled Development of a model for social participation by people with dementia in the museum space was led by the International Institute for Subjective Experience and Research (ISER) at the Medical School in Hamburg and was carried out in cooperation with Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg as well as Dementia Support Stuttgart. It was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the programme “Social innovations for quality of life in the aging society”.
You can find further information on the research project here: