In recent times, we have seen that most of the Art institutions around the world including exhibitions have been providing ramps for wheelchair users. This is to make the art accessible to everyone and not only those who can walk.
For this, it is a must to have your art exhibitions along with ramps so that wheelchair users can also access them. However, Tate Modern is being criticized by a wheelchair user over its rampless work. This is regarding the Olafur Eliasson show at Tate Modern which does not have a ramp for wheelchair users, apparently.
It can be clearly seen that the show which consists of a mirrored tunnel installation can only be accessed by steps which are steep as well. This means wheelchair users cannot have the privilege of going through the mirrored tunnel on their own.
The wheelchair user who has criticized Tate Modern for this incident is known to be an author for an Irish Sunday Independent newspaper. In a series of tweets on micro-blogging site, Twitter, she writes:
“I’ve just come out of Tate Modern, to see Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition, In Real Life. It’s a series of mostly interactive installations that play with light, mirrors, mist, fire, water. A couple of pieces were too high for me to play with, but whatever—that’s unavoidable, At the end, there’s a whole room dedicated to a mirrored tunnel: you’re meant to walk through it. It had two steps up to it. In the grand scheme of supremely inaccessible London, it barely registered.
To their surprise, the gallery attendant also became “cross and weirdly defensive”, says O’Connor’s friend Alice when asked if a ramp was available. While Eliasson said that “to acknowledge its original shape while offering full access, I am exploring solutions with Tate”, Tate Modern has since said that the work “cannot be made safely accessible for wheelchair users”
