is a travel series by journalists from the Lifestyle section of the Interia portal. Throughout the entire summer, we invite you to discover Poland together, visiting popular, iconic, but also slightly forgotten places and those that are still waiting to be discovered. Set off on a journey through Poland with us! Today we travel through the charming corners of Grudziądz and prove that a county town with a centuries-old history should not be omitted on the tourist route.
Although there is complete darkness all around, our guide, Paweł, confidently leads the three-person group through the rooms. For him, darkness – it is not black – is an everyday occurrence. For us, darkness is a journey into his world and at the same time a discovery of surprising truths about ourselves. The exhibition “Towards Darkness” at the WOMAI Science and Senses Center is surprising on many levels, and yet we will not see anything there.
The first surprise is the total darkness. At first I hoped that my eyes would adjust to it, as they do at night when the lights are off. However, nothing of the sort happened. This is a deliberate action, as Katarzyna Blak from the WOMAI Science and Senses Center tells Interia:
I entered the exhibition convinced that hearing is the second most important sense for me. And already in the first room, “Towards Darkness” gave the lie to my ideas about myself. There is darkness all around, and now we are standing on a busy street. There is noise, the sounds of cars passing by. Paweł puts his walking stick in my hand (if there were rays of light here, I would see that it is white), teaches me how to hold it correctly and invites me to take an independent walk along the “street”.
When I have to let go of the wall that has been my support so far, I feel lost. I instinctively know which way to go, but I can’t see where I’m going. Although common sense tells me that this place was created with the safety of visitors in mind, my inner anxiety tells me to tread carefully. And then I discover that touch is not only the palms of my hands, but also the soles of my feet. I feel the characteristic unevenness that can be found at pedestrian crossings – I gain the certainty that I’m on the right path. I don’t know how long this short walk took me – time passes differently in the dark.
Then, when it is time for a conversation in one of the next rooms, our guide draws attention to the relationship between time and light. It turns out that many blind people have a disturbed circadian rhythm. In a world where the sun does not set a time for sleep or activity – the middle of the day is not so different from midnight. Paweł is a very open person, he likes to talk about his perception of the world and everyday life without light and colors. There is something intimate in this conversation – maybe because it is shrouded in darkness?
Each of us has probably seen a scene in the movies where a blind person touches the face to recognize another person. It turns out that this is just literary fiction, for blind people the face is not as important as the sound of the voice or other features of the body. On my journey through the darkness I am accompanied by two teenagers aged 13 and 16, our guide almost accurately determined their age based on their voices and height.
The blind guide asks us to perform everyday activities—insert a key into a keyhole and open a room, walk down the street, or identify spices. Ordinary activities in the dark turn out to be great fun. There is a lot of laughter and jokes. At the same time, it is a very educational experience.
Blind or partially sighted people are not only guides at WOMAI, they also take an active part in creating the exhibition. They advise, pay attention to details and make the sighted creators aware of which elements are a bad and unrealistic idea and how to improve what already exists. Blind employees have many new ideas, so the exhibition is constantly evolving.
It was an interesting experience to observe (although in this case it is not quite the right word) how the world of the “other” senses draws in my teenage companions, what a fascinating journey this stay is for them and how much curiosity the lives of blind people aroused in them. “Into Darkness” can be visited with children from the age of 9 and it is worth taking them here. On the one hand, the offspring learn sensitivity to blind people, on the other hand, they convince themselves that poor eyesight makes many things difficult, but does not exclude them.
In one of the rooms, our task is to guess what hobbies the blind guides from WOMAI have by recognizing objects related to their activities. Telling the reader what these objects are would spoil the fun during the tour, so I will only reveal that most of them will surprise more than one, but in WOMAI, surprises are nothing extraordinary.
Children will gain many useful tips during their visit to the exhibition “Towards Darkness”: how to show the way to a blind person, or that in order to get their attention in the hustle and bustle of a crowd, you have to touch them, because otherwise they won’t know that you are addressing them with your words. And these are just examples of the many interesting things they have learned and found out.
Not everyone likes the company of children during a tour. For some, it can be tiring or inconvenient. The topics of conversation will also vary depending on the age of the visitors. That is why WOMAI, in addition to groups with children, also provides visiting hours exclusively for adults. Tickets for exhibitions and other events organized by the Center for Science and Senses can be purchased online in advance.
When the guide led us to the exit and warned us to let our eyes get used to the light, I was surprised that an hour had passed. Finally, the last riddle, deciphering the words written especially for each of us in Braille. The time passed very quickly, and it was filled with surprises, experiences and learning about the world of blind people. We can say that the exhibition perfectly fulfills the goal set by its creators:
“The topic of disability in Poland is still rarely discussed. Although it is much better than it was a few years ago, the topic is still not worked through and understood. Many people still have no idea about the basic issues related to blind people. The idea for the exhibition “Towards Darkness” arose in a sense from frustration that social awareness of this issue is so low.”
A ticket for students, pupils and people under 18 costs 45 PLN, an adult has to spend 50 PLN at WOMAI. Although I didn’t see anything, I don’t regret a single zloty I paid for the entrance and I highly recommend this place if you are in Krakow.