Dialogue in the Dark exhibitions by Andreas Heinecke allow visitors to confront prejudice towards blindness by experiencing complete darkness. 

Once inside the exhibition area, visitors must put away any source of light such as phones, watches, etc., in order to fully experience darkness for 100 minutes. 

The exhibition is guided by a ‘road master’ who directs every part of the exhibition, and visitors are also provided with a white cane to navigate the space within the different rooms. 

In fact, these ‘road masters’ are actually visually impaired individuals, making the exhibition even more captivating as going through the darkness would have definitely been a difficult task without their guidance. 

The exhibition area features many different rooms with various wall and floor textures, scents, and sounds, allowing the visitors to closely focus on utilizing senses other than sight. 

Each location has different stories, which gives visitors an opportunity to experience a new type of darkness in every location. 

One of the most prominent experiences of the exhibition was getting on the “rickshaw”.

Although visitors are not aware of whether or not the rickshaw is real, the movable chairs and adjustable wind allow them to feel as if they are actually on a rickshaw. 

Every part of the exhibition area includes many details as each room has  different props, sound, and smell that match what the place should look like.

Throughout the exhibition, visitors are able to fully imagine what each space would look like. 

Though it might initially seem intimidating to go into full darkness, the ‘road master’ is fully alarmed of where each visitor is and assists navigating each person through the exhibition. 

As the visitors are left largely dependent on their ‘road masters’, this experience indubitably succeeds in preventing prejudice against the blind as it is fascinating how much the ‘road masters’ are capable of sensing every part of the area, even though they are also incapable of viewing the space.

Furthermore, Dialogue in the Dark also teaches an important lesson on how important vision is for many people. 

By introducing blindness in a creative way through providing  new perspectives on darkness, Dialogue in the Dark will truly be a lifelong experience for many visitors.

This exhibition was created as a result of Heinecke’s search for the answer to the question: “On what ground do we judge people and feel inferior or superior?”

Interestingly, Heinecke was made aware of the answers to his question, as well as fulfilling his curiosity about the world of blind people through a friend who had lost his sight in a vehicle accident.

Inspired by his friend, Dialogue in the Dark first started in a small warehouse, but now has over 130 locations and over 9 million visitors.

This exhibition was first introduced in Seoul as the 10th permanent site in the world in 2010 by the social enterprise N-VISIONS. 

There are currently two locations for this experience in South Korea: Bukchon and Dongtan.