Co-Designing for Visual Disability in Polish and Canadian Museums

Join Malwina Antoniszczak and Patricia Bérubé for a discussion of their experiences co-designing museum exhibitions to increase visitor accessibility. Presentations will introduce audience members to the issue of museum accessibility in the presenters’ respective locations and will highlight their recent design projects along with the accomplishments and challenges involved. Presentations will be followed by a discussion between the two presenters and an audience Q&A.

About the speakers

Malwina Antoniszczak is a Polish artist and designer based in Krakow, Poland. She is a lecturer at The Institute of Art and Design at the Pedagogical University of Kraków and the Academy of Fine Art in Kraków. She completed M.A in Industrial Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and post-diploma studies at École nationale supérieure de création industrielle - ENSCI, Les Ateliers in Paris, France. In 2022 she completed her PhD in Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Malwina Antoniszczak created more than 30 exhibition designs for museums and galleries in Poland and abroad. Her research is focused on Ergonomics and Universal Design, she specializes in designing tactile aids for visually impaired museum visitors.

After completing a B.A. and M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies, Patricia Bérubé completed her PhD in Cultural Mediation at Carleton University. Her innovative research is focused on making visual arts more accessible to visually impaired audiences. Patricia is also interested in issues surrounding critical disability studies. As a person living with bipolar disorder type II, she has become actively involved through advocacy and giving lectures about mental health and neurodiversity. Her doctoral project was generously funded by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).