Alpha Core

Our visit to Dialog im Dunkeln in Hamburg was quite an experience! I didn’t think an exhibition could leave such deep impression on me! However, this 90 minute tour in the dark gave me a completely new and profound experience. I couldn’t possibly start to describe the general idea any better than already mentioned on their website:

The concept is simple: visitors are lead by blind guides in small groups through specially constructed darkened rooms, in which scents, sounds, wind, temperatures and textures conveys the characteristics of daily environments, for example a park, a city or a bar. In the dark, the daily routine becomes a new experience. A reversion of roles is created: sighted people are torn out of their familiar environments; blind people provide them with security and a sense of orientation transmitting a world without pictures.

It’s quite terrifying to suddenly find yourself stuck in the dark, right in front of a small bush, somewhere completely off track – you think – while you’re trying to discover where you are, feeling the ground around you with a cane. The group might already have gone further, but then you hear some shuffling feet and suddenly the guide asking if everybody’s alright. You can’t see anything and have to rely on your other senses to get to the next room, where you suddenly face the difficulty of walking around in a city and crossing a street. After a few of these walks in a variety of different settings, you get to the end and order something in the bar. You go and sit down to discuss the whole experience with the guide and yes, all of this also happens in complete darkness. And no, they’re not cheating when giving back change.

As you might already have figured out, I can recommend this exhibition immensely! Definitely worth a visit!

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