SHAPE 2017 TateExchange Book FINAL Draft - Flipbook - Page 19
artworks are hard to describe, but you don’t spend 20 minutes describing
top right down to bottom left, without first saying what the initial impression
of the artwork is on the senses. And to be honest, after 20 minutes you don’t
want to hear another description of an artwork again.
Lesson to be learnt: that sometimes a shorter more energised description
from someone that isn’t trying to be precise about the description, but
is trying to convey the feelings of the artwork are more appropriate. This
is where audio description of artworks may vary from audio description
of theatre and TV. I believe that some audio interpretation can be used in
this context.
Choose Your Describer Carefully
Whilst on the Board and as Vice Chair of the Audio Description Association
(ADA), I discovered that most describers come from a theatre background.
Some have gone into describing artistic and museum objects with varying
degrees of descriptive artistic success.
I’ve often trained curators, artists and arts enthusiasts in descriptive and
touch techniques, and know that you can usually tell within 30 seconds if
someone can make a good describer of artworks. It is hard to define the
qualities – like a good wine, you know when you have hit the jackpot. It
partly consists of having a overall view, an ability to use interesting language,
noticing the minute subtle elements and always conveying the why and how
and not concentrating solely on the what.
There are also trained audio describers available with an arts background who
would have the knowledge and understanding to describe artworks both
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