ARoS offers free guided tours for people with special needs in As Seen Below

As part of the opening programme for James Turrell’s Skyspace As Seen Below, ARoS is offering free guided tours for selected groups, with a focus on accessibility.

As part of ARoS’ strategic commitment to social sustainability, the museum is offering guided tours of the new artwork As Seen Below for selected groups with special needs. During the tours, participants receive an introduction to As Seen Below from one of ARoS’ art educators, as well as free admission to the museum.

“Everyone should have the opportunity to experience art, but we know that a museum visit is not equally accessible to everyone. By inviting groups with different needs into As Seen Below and tailoring the experience to them, we can remove some of those barriers and give more people the chance to encounter the work on their own terms. That is an important part of what it means for ARoS to be an open and welcoming museum,” says Museum Director Rebecca Matthews.

Groups that have already taken part in specially arranged tours include the Nohrskov Foundation, which creates experiences for children who have or have had a serious illness, as well as their families, SIND, the Danish Association for Mental Health, Abildgården Care Home, and Lykkeliga, a local handball association for children and young people with disabilities. Guided tours are also planned for Fællesskabet Glad.

“The children were clearly fascinated by the colours changing around them in the Skyspace, and it was wonderful to see how they embraced the experience. These are precisely the kinds of experiences that spark joy and curiosity and create a sense of community among the children,” says Marlene Torp Uttrup, responsible for Lykkeliga at Vejlby Risskov Sports Club.

As Seen Below is a permanent part of the ARoS Collection and can be experienced at any time during a visit to the museum.

The opening programme for As Seen Below has been made possible with generous support from the Salling Foundations.

Museum experiences for everyone

ARoS has long been committed to making the museum accessible to a wider range of people. Since 2013, in collaboration with the Danish Alzheimer’s Association, we have offered guided tours for people living with dementia and their relatives. In 2019, ARoS was also named Denmark’s first dementia-friendly museum following a collaboration with the Danish Alzheimer’s Association and the Department of Health and Care in Aarhus Municipality.

As part of our work on accessibility, we have, amongst other things, organised special programmes for terminally ill cancer patients in collaboration with the cancer department at Aarhus University Hospital, run sensory tours for pupils from special needs classes and developed a concept for guided tours tailored to blind visitors in collaboration with the Danish Association for the Blind. We also regularly organise so-called Slow Looking guided tours, where all senses are engaged in the encounter with art, and where the works are experienced at a slower pace.

In addition, each year, in collaboration with Volunteer Centre Aarhus, we provide a pool of free admission tickets and annual passes to a number of organisations in Aarhus that support vulnerable and socially isolated people in the city. In partnership with Ældresagen, we also organise specially designed guided tours for elderly visitors.

For further information, please contact:
ARoS Press and Communications
presse@aros.dk
+45 61904942