(Non-)verbal Communication in Fine Arts AD:
Crossing the Border, Bridging the Gap
December 2019 took Æ Academic to the University of Wrocław, Poland, where we shared our experiences on preparing audio descriptions of fine arts masterpieces for the blind audience in the US.
MA SEMINAR
Audio Description: An Expedition Beyond Language
On 9 December 2019, the Institute of English Studies, Wrocław University, welcomed text, language, and culture researchers and Æ Academic Publishing founders from San Diego, CA. Dr. Joanna Esquibel and D. Esquibel gave a seminar on translating fine arts for the blind. They discussed different audio description techniques and solutions, contingent upon thorough research and rooted in rich philosophical foundations; illustrating their work with – among others – “[crawling death]” by Zdzisław Beksiński, “Farewell to the Insurgent” by Artur Grottger, and “Babel Tower” by Jerzy Duda-Gracz. The researchers also discussed elements of forensic linguistics and other linguistic studies reaching far beyond a typical paradigm of linguistics.
The event was organized jointly by the College for Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute of English Studies, and the Committee for Philology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław Branch.
Text by: Bartłomiej Woźniak (transl. by Æ)
Originally published at: KSMI
BEYOND LANGUAGE LECTURE SERIES
Image and Imagery – Audio Description
Another lecture in the BEYOND LANGUAGE series and another meeting with “ordinary extraordinary” guests.
Book aficionados and publishers from Æ Academic Publishing in San Diego, CA, Dr. Joanna Esquibel and Esquibel discussed their work on the audio description of the greatest masters of fine arts, from Albrecht Dürer, through Francis de Goya y Lucien and Claude Monet, to historical paintings by Jan Matejko.
With their eyes closed, our diverse audience of Wrocław University students and high-schoolers from Lubin and Góra used their imagery to paint a Kandinsky masterpiece in their mind. Lecture participants learnt about dynamic ways to creatively describe colors, non-verbal micro-expressions, and body language so that the blind can imagine a work of art on their own and the sighted can better comprehend its complex structure.
Æ Academic Publishing is an active ambassador of the Polish culture abroad, the majority of their described masterpieces belong to the Polish canon. Æ Academic aims to create a context in which the blind can afford their own reception and interpretation of the works of art.
The Beyond Language lecture series is a joint initiative of the College for Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute of English Studies, and the Committee for Philology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław Branch, with Professor Piotr Chruszczewski as its spiritus movens.
Text by: Karolina Żmudzińska (transl. by Æ)
Originally published at KSMI
Æ Academic lecture on audio description is based on Speaks the Masterpiece: Fine Arts in Audio Description by Beata Jerzakowska.
