Audio Description of works of art as illustrated by the virtual version of the Museum of Julio Romero de Torres

Abstract

Audio Description (AD) is a form of intersemiotic translation (Jakobson 1959) which uses verbal narration to objectively, concisely and accurately describe the visual part of a cultural phenomenon or event such as film, work of art, theater play, concert, match or funeral. It enables the blind to experience and
interpret such events along with accompanying emotions and esthetic experience. In the case of art, audio description is more demanding than in other forms because it is an independent verbal illustration, which is entirely based on the painting comprising the visual source text. The objective of this article is a comparative analysis of the current Spanish and Polish standards. They provide certain guidelines on how to prepare an audio description of art. As a starting point, this paper analyses audio description of selected works of art available on the website of Julio Romero de Torres Museum in Cordoba as well as a Polish project “Obrazy słowem malowane – radiowe spotkania z audiodeskrypcją nie tylko dla najmłodszych”. Such analysis was conducted in order to discover the reasons behind discrepancies between the mentioned countries, having in mind that the Spanish tradition in this matter goes back to 1990s, and the first Polish attempts were made in 2006. Moreover, the article focuses on the criterion of objectivism, postulated in AD.