Sunday, September 07, 2008
Quick, Q&A

“Dialog in the Dark” with Andreas Heinecke

A Quick Q&A

Andreas Heinecke is the founder of the exhibition Dialog in the Dark, which immerses sighted people in the everyday world of the blind. Visitors are escorted through interactive galleries in total darkness, and are challenged to perform tasks without the use of their eyes. Led by blind or visually impaired guides, visitors navigate a world in which scent, sound, temperature and texture take on greater import. The Sunday Paper caught up with Heinecke to discuss the exhibit, currently making its U.S. debut at Atlantic Station until February 2009.—Kevin Forest Moreau

Q How did you first become interested in creating a dialogue between blind and sighted people?

A I was working as a journalist at a radio station, and one day I was asked by my director if I could [come up with] a work training [program] for a gentleman who lost his sight. I had no idea about blindness, no contact with disabled people at all, and I felt a little bit awkward about what to do with a blind guy. I thought he’d be completely depressed, and the only thing I felt was a little pity. I didn’t know how to deal with him. And then I met him, and … I was amazed at his capacity to manage his situation. After a while, I understood completely that being blind is not the end of the world, and there are other possibilities and other ways to manage life.

How did that lead to Dialog in the Dark?
I was really shocked that I could judge so quickly. It was a shock, a positive shock, in a way, being embarrassed about myself that I had judged so quickly. After two years working at the radio station and training him to become a journalist and a documentarian, I was clear that I wanted to continue with that work and set up a new job offer for blind people within the media.

I started working for the Foundation for the Blind, an organization in Frankfurt, Germany, and I became aware that the main hurdle is not money, it’s not technical devices, it’s not training programs; the main hurdle is this mental barrier between people who are different. And then I thought, "How can I really bring people together? How can I give people a chance to meet blind people but in another way, not feeling pity, in a positive way?" And then suddenly it was obvious to turn off the light, where the blind people are the clever ones and the sighted are suddenly limited.

You’re also working on Dialog in the Silence, to similarly help people experience and understand the world of the hearing-impaired.

Yes. … But it doesn’t matter, you know—deaf or blind, silent or dark, this is not what’s important. What’s important, first of all, is the inclusion of disabled people, to see them as experts, and to offer the broader public [the opportunity] to come in contact with them and understand their own limits, which leads to humility. This is a big issue for me, to appreciate the potential of others. SP

For more information on and tickets to Dialog in the Dark, please visit www.dialogtickets.com.