6 dots that opened a world: Korean braille turns 100

INCHEON — An elephant without a trunk invites visitors to learn with their hands before their eyes at an exhibition marking 100 years of Korean braille. Artist Oum Jeong-soon’s “Elephant Without a Trunk no. 7” opens “From Dots to the World: 100 Years of Korean Braille” at the National Museum of World Writing Systems, challenging the convention that museum objects are for looking at, not touching. “We kept explanations to a minimum so visitors could experience the exhibition through touch,“ curator Gu Dan-bi said during a press preview, Tuesday. The approach introduces its central message of “a world everyone can read together.” Jointly organized with the National Hangeul Museum and Songam Braille Library, the exhibition celebrates and seeks to raise awareness of the Korean braille system's 100th anniversary. The story began in France. Valentin Hauy’s 1786 “Essay on the Education of the Blind,” currently on loan for the exhibit from the National Library of France, argues for educating blind people through raised characters. Tactile replicas of the book allow visi