Could it ever be possible to translate an artwork from one sense to another, from a hearing experience to a haptic one, as a way to make it accessible to sensory diverse audiences? Could we activate the architecture interior of an exhibition space to become the tool of sensory translation? A consortium of three teams of artists, designers, engineers, composers, theorists and an architect are working from Amsterdam, Boston, Toronto and London (Ontario, Canada), to create technological prototypes for the creation of an experimental exhibition capsule. Each one contributes from their own individual interests and expertise, which range from human computer interaction to ceramics and from art installations to construction acoustics. The ultimate aim is a speculative investigation into whether translation between the senses could be a way to make aesthetic experiences accessible to visitors with hearing and visual impairments.

In this paper we will focus first on the process of working together from close and from a distance , a process during which various possibilities to activate elements of the exhibition space are explored: tiles, walls, air, ceramics, strings, textile. Second, we will focus on the relation between designing tools and architectural elements: the first phase is focused on developing technologies as sensory translation tools to be incorporated into the architectural infrastructure of a “capsule” exhibition. Once parts of the architecture will be “activated,” the architecture itself becomes a tool forsensory translation, whether of existing or new art works.