Ancona – Tokyo: a direct road thanks to the Museo Omero

A unique Museum that takes its uniqueness around the world.

Tokyo

The links between Ancona and the city of the Rising Sun are increasingly frequent and this is due in part to the cultural collaborations and the specialist research undertaken by the Museo Tattile Statale Omero.
Last August the Tom Gallery, Tokyo, invited the Museo Omero to visit Japan and to share their experience, expertise and skills relating to museum accessibility for the visually impaired. Prof. Aldo Grassini, assisted by Dr Monica Bernacchia, held three crowded conferences in important museums in Tokyo and Kanagaya: the National Children's Castle, the Yokosuka Museum of Art the Setagaya Art Museum. The lively interest shown by a public made up of curators, architects, museum staff, scholars and journalists led to the immediate setting up of numerous contacts with bodies and individuals who wished to study further the culture of barrier-free art and to spread it in Japan. The non-specialist public were also able to learn about our museum thanks to an interview in an important high-circulation national newspaper.

Ancona

The visit was a professional mission which sowed seeds of interest in the Museum in Japan, although there had actually been some contacts previously. As a matter of fact, last August we welcomed visitors who had chosen to come to Ancona rather than to classic destinations like Florence or Rome. The first was a primary school teacher from Tokyo who is sincerely interested in our city, and who gathered several teaching ideas from her visit. Then came a group of seven university professors from various national institutions, who are working on a research project for the creation of three-dimensional teaching aids for the non-sighted. This three-year project, is supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sport and Culture and by the Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid of Japan. After visiting America they arrived in Europe to study the three most representative institutions in the field of art education for the non-sighted and partially-sighted: the Museo Omero, Ancona, the Louvre Museum, Paris, the Cavazza, Bologna. The team visited our Museum to learn about our scientific activities. They then showed us the products generated by their project.
Mr Shigeki Kano, an artist who creates relief cameos and who would like to open a museum similar to ours in Kobe, visited us on 21 October.

The photos

• The conferences held in Japan
• The team of Japanese professors during their official visit to the Museo Omero

Written trails

From an a email dated 10.08.2008

Thanks for your nice supports to all thing that you had done concernig Ald's lectures and ,etc.
Please say many thanks from my part and from all the staff of Gallery TOM to the director of Omero Museo, Robert Farroni.
Aldo's talks at three different places are very succesesful and gave strong and deep inffluence the japanese audience.
Totally about 200 people joined at these 3 lectures.

Take care, Kiyoshi
Vice direttore Gallery Tom

From an a email dated 18.08.2008

Dear Monica. This is Kazuko Mochi. I have no words to express my gratitude for your kindness. I read Momoko's e-mail and I was known she has had such a wonderful time with you and your Museum's staff. It is very courteous of you to help her. Thank you so much. Grazie mille.
Sincerely. With love.
CIAO!

From an a email dated 15.10.2008

Dear Roberto Farroni Monica Bernacchia, Andrea Ssocrati, Massimiliano Trubbiani
Thank you very much for your hearty reception on 8 October. We (seven visitation members) are extremely happy to meet you and to learn about your activities. It's very nice if our friendship becomes active after this, starting from our visitation. Let's keep in touch with us in the future. Attachment is the PDF, which is almost same as the printed materials I distributed to you. I look forward to meeting you someday again. If you come to Japan, don't hesitate to contact me!

Very best regards, Yoshinori Teshima (on behalf of visitation members)