Pinacoteca di Brera Pilots AI Glasses for Accessible Art Visits

Quotes

“The project developed at the Pinacoteca di Brera with Meta and EssilorLuxottica shows how new technologies and artificial intelligence can be put at the service of people and inclusion. A tool that can truly improve the quality of life of blind and visually impaired people, combining autonomy and independence in mobility with access to culture, which must be accessible and open to everyone. This is the real shift: reducing those barriers that can sometimes be physical, sometimes sensory, and sometimes cultural, and giving everyone the opportunity to pursue their passions. I hope this important trial can become a model to be replicated in many other museums and cultural venues, so that every person can truly feel fully included as a citizen”

“Making heritage accessible means creating the conditions so that everyone can build their own relationship with art. DescriVedendo has for years represented an important part of our commitment, and today we can enrich it with an additional possibility, born from the encounter between cultural expertise, technology, and people's experience. The Pinacoteca continues to be a place of experimentation in which to explore new languages and tools capable of bringing a universal heritage closer to an ever-wider audience.”

“When innovation addresses real needs, it can create tangible value in people's lives. Technology reaches its greatest potential when it succeeds in making information and daily experiences more accessible, natural, and immediate - like with our AI glasses. It is through initiatives like this—born from an ongoing dialogue with people with disabilities — that we work toward a future with more opportunities for everyone.”

“Having watched these devices come to life in our labs and manufacturing facilities, it is deeply rewarding to see the positive impact that smart glasses can have on people's lives, enriching the way they experience the world around them while building on the tradition of excellence, innovation and craftsmanship that has long defined our eyewear. Thanks to this initiative and the collaboration of all the partners involved, we are unlocking new opportunities to explore and experience art and culture, making them more accessible to blind and low vision people.”

“_Being able to experience culture with greater autonomy means having more freedom of choice: in timing, methods, and the personal connection each individual builds with an artwork. This is why it is essential that blind and visually impaired people participate directly in developing the solutions that concern them. Bringing our experience into this project allowed us to contribute concrete needs, expectations, and feedback, turning dialogue into a driver of innovation.”

“The glasses use content created by Brera and ANS with Descrivedendo: descriptions of the artworks, art history and the artist’s biography. But they do so in a natural way: as you move from one artwork to another, the AI in the glasses recognises what’s in front of you and starts describing it, at your own pace, depending on where you want to go and how you want to experience the art”