Dr Sophie Vohra: How to stop looking at museums

Museums have trained us to think they are places for looking. Glass cases, catalogues and labels reinforce the idea that history is something we see. But what if sight is only part of the story?

In this talk, Dr Sophie Vohra explores the sensory life of museum collections - shaped not just by vision, but by touch, sound, smell, memory and the lived experiences of the people who care for them. She asks what changes when we stop treating museums as primarily visual spaces and begin to recognise them as multisensory environments.

Drawing on research into disability gain and sensory diversity, the talk invites audiences to imagine museums differently: not as neutral spaces to observe, but as places where every body senses, interprets and connects in their own way. When no single sense is necessary or sufficient, history becomes richer, stranger and more inclusive.

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Host or Publisher LBU - School of Humanities and Social Sciences