MILAN — Meta and EssilorLuxottica have joined forces with Milan’s museum Pinacoteca di Brera to expand art access through technology. Presented on Tuesday, the initiative represents one of the first museum trials in the world using AI glasses in order to test new forms of cultural accessibility for blind and visually impaired people.
Called “Sensing Art — Discovering Masterpieces Beyond What Meets the Eye,” it was conceived in collaboration with national and local institutions operating projects for visually impaired people, including Associazione Nazionale Subvedenti (or ANS), Unione Italiana dei Ciechi e degli Ipovedenti (or UICI) and Fondazione Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano.
The technology was integrated into the Grande Brera app, offering an alternative to the traditional way of experiencing the DescriVivendo Brera tour, one of the first tools that the museum introduced 10 years ago in order to reduce perceptual barriers.
The tour guides visitors to discover eight masterpieces from the collection through three different pieces of content for each work developed according to the ANS DescriVivendo method: the morphological description of shapes, composition, details and visual features; the historical-artistic overview, and the artist’s biography. The artworks involved include Francesco Hayez’s renowned painting “The Kiss,” Andrea Mantegna’s “The Dead Christ” and Raphael’s “The Marriage of the Virgin,” among others.
“When innovation addresses real needs, it can create tangible value in people’s lives. Technology reaches its greatest potential when it succeeds in making information and daily experiences more accessible, natural and immediate — like with our AI glasses,” said Maxine Williams, vice president of accessibility at Meta. “It is through initiatives like this — born from an ongoing dialogue with people with disabilities — that we work toward a future with more opportunities for everyone.”
In particular, the technology allows the visitor to activate artwork recognition from the glasses while standing in front of one of the eight works and listen directly to the corresponding audio descriptions from the speakers built into the temples. The tour is completed by short orientation tracks between one work and the next and by the ability to customize content playback. Users can ask the voice assistant Meta AI questions about the context and surrounding environment, while through integration with the “Be My Eyes” tool, visitors can connect through the glasses with sighted volunteers and qualified operators to receive real-time support in orientation and practical task management.
“Having watched these devices come to life in our labs and manufacturing facilities, it is deeply rewarding to see the positive impact that smart glasses can have on people’s lives, enriching the way they experience the world around them while building on the tradition of excellence, innovation and craftsmanship that has long defined our eyewear,” said Davide Schinetti, chief operating and research and development officer at EssilorLuxottica.
The initiative is available at the museum upon reservation.