Dialogue in the Dark, Social awareness museum in Hamburg, Germany
Dialogue in the Dark is a museum in Hamburg where blind guides lead visitors through a completely darkened exhibition. Groups feel their way through recreated everyday settings such as a park, a city landscape and a bar, relying on scents, wind, temperatures, sounds and textures.
The museum was founded in 1988 by Andreas Heinecke as a completely new way to understand blindness. The approach has since spread to many cities around the world and become influential in how people think about disability.
The guides here are blind themselves and show visitors how they move and communicate in complete darkness. You discover how everyday tasks need different skills that sighted people rarely develop.
The tour lasts around 90 minutes and you should wear comfortable clothes since you will move around a lot. It helps to allow yourself time to arrive and not be in a rush so you can fully feel the experience.
The exhibition is fully darkened, with no outdoor section. Blind guides, called "attendants" in the Japanese version, lead groups through recreated everyday scenes such as a park, a cityscape and a bar, where visitors rely on scents, wind, temperatures, sounds and textures. The concept reverses roles: blind people ensure visitors' orientation.
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