Seeing topographically in a museum

By David Faucheux

A high point of my May 1997 trip to New York City was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But it was paradoxically the lowest point on that same trip. This is because while strolling amid the largest collection of art the world has yet seen, I was limited to touching only a few small pieces--soap stone carvings, a small, carved lime wood Medieval German altar piece, a gauntlet from a suit of armor, an Egyptian scarab, a bronze reproduction of Virtue overcoming Vice (one of the figures had the most elegantly sculpted back), the marble foot from a Greek statue, and a piece of mummy case.

This sounds like a lot, I realize. But the museum is stuffed with works of art from the entire world covering over 50 centuries. I did manage to sort of touch a Rodin statue, a bronze on the roof, The Shades, I think its name was. The guard was not terribly pleased; but like my friend, Diane, said, "Birds shit on it, what can he do to hurt it!" Like Queen Victoria, the guard was not amused. I didn't care. Guard shmard, get a life. I was so cross that I could not examine the Byzantine art they were featuring that month, and that after I had brought several Braille copies of the Byzantine brochure that I had scanned and translated for them. Ingratitude???

A Japanese company has developed a 3D device with a haptic glove that could let people examine rare museum exhibits. According to a news account:

"The system can also translate real-world objects into virtual representations. Two cameras image the items in 3D so that they can be displayed on the screen.

"A connected computer then processes the 3D image to generate a tactile representation of the object."

I'm ready for that haptic glove. Bring it on.

IMAGINE That!