Interview Questions for Erica Tandori, an Artist, Intellectual, and Educator at Monash University
In the realm of art and technology, Erica Tandori, an artist in residence at Monash University in Australia, is making waves with her innovative approach. Tandori uses a unique blend of traditional art-making methods and digital technologies to create immersive, multi-sensory experiences that explore the intersection of science, art, and the lived experience of disability.
Tandori's work is rooted in her personal journey with macular dystrophy, a condition that has significantly impacted her vision. In her quest to articulate the range of symptoms of vision loss, she employs digital tools to create an eyewitness account as accurately as possible. This approach is a departure from traditional digital images, which Tandori believes are more about data, and oil paintings and drawings, which seem to articulate more about an experience.
One of Tandori's most notable works, "Invisible Mona Lisa," showcases the processes of cortical completion taking place. The piece features a concealed area of the face, filled with background colour to represent the scotoma, a blind spot in the visual field. This artwork provides a unique perspective on what it means to see versus what it means to have vision, a theme that Tandori explores throughout her work.
Another of Tandori's creations, "The Sleeping Pangolin," incorporates AI and data, with screens showing mutating viruses created by Stu Favilla. However, this artwork confounded object recognition software, leading to humorous misrecognitions.
Tandori's PhD research focused on the lived experience of how blindness looks, providing an eyewitness account of vision loss and how the world appears from her perspective. This research underscores the importance of including those with lived experience of disability in discourses around science, technology, art, medicine, and more. Such inclusion would enhance access and use of new technologies for people with disabilities.
The Monash Sensory Science initiative, an exhibition program specifically designed for those with low vision, blindness, and other disabilities, is a testament to Tandori's commitment to accessibility and education. This initiative aims to create community awareness about biomedical research and foster careers in science for people with disabilities.
Moreover, Tandori's work emphasizes the potential of utilizing multiple learning modalities. For instance, the sonification of data, which uses non-speech audio to convey information or perceptualize data, is a method Tandori uses to help those with low vision or blindness access meaningful information through hearing.
In the broader context, the most important research areas to promote accessibility and the use of new technologies for people with disabilities focus on participatory research involving people with and without disabilities, addressing social and cultural barriers, and developing inclusive solutions such as complete barrier-free environments. This includes interdisciplinary work on ethical social inclusion, assistive technologies, and social innovation to break down societal obstacles and support equal participation.
By focusing research on making technologies accessible to people with disabilities, we can eliminate many barriers they face and empower them to pursue educational goals and careers. Tandori's art exhibitions, which aim to provide greater inclusion, accessibility, and education for low vision, blind, and diverse audiences, are a step in the right direction. Her work serves as a powerful reminder of the transformative potential of art and technology in promoting understanding, empathy, and inclusion.
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