Exhibition: Pyskowice – The Town. Audio guide to history and railways at Municipal Centre for Culture and Art in Pyskowice, Poland

The permanent exhibition ‘Pyskowice City’ at the MOKiS Exhibition Centre in Pyskowice presents the rich history of the city’s post-war development and the importance of the Pyskowice railway junction in the years 1945 – 2005. The exhibition was created on the basis of unique archival materials, documents, photographs and private memorabilia, obtained thanks to cooperation with residents and local institutions.

Under the slogan ‘What they were and what they could have been – the town, the station, history’, the exhibition thoroughly documents the reconstruction of the market square, the urban development of the town and the construction of large housing estates. A special section is devoted to the history of the ‘Pyskowice Miasto’ railway station and the ambitious project to build the ‘Silesian Metro’.

The exhibition includes, among other things, archival photographs from the post-war expansion of the city, documentation of urban plans from the 1960s and 1970s, original information boards and platform signs, clocks and railway equipment from the former station, railway employee uniforms, local boards and railway infrastructure markings. The exhibition is complemented by a miniature sculpture by Stanisław Hochuła, whose history was discovered thanks to the efforts of Julia and Jarosław Słomski.

The project ‘Pyskowice Station • GOP Agglomeration and Museum Railway’, created in 2015, is the largest publicly available database on the history of Pyskowice, the local railway junction and the development of agglomeration and museum railways in Upper Silesia.

The initial idea was to make the exhibition more accessible to all visitors, including those with mobility, visual and hearing impairments. It was agreed with the partner to develop audio guide recordings that would allow visitors to explore the exhibition independently, while maintaining its narrative and educational character.

The main objectives of the project were:

• to facilitate the reception of the exhibition by people with different needs
• to ensure a coherent narrative linking all display cases and objects
• to strengthen visitor engagement through an interactive and accessible audio format
• to popularise local history and railway heritage in a modern and attractive way

The content for the audio guide was developed by the ARTeria Foundation team in close cooperation with employees of MOKIS and Stacja Pyskowice, who provided all the necessary information, materials, etc., and also participated in the editing process. Experienced musician and composer Wenancjusz Ochmann was responsible for the voice-over recording and sound design.

The ARTeria Foundation team includes people specialising in, among other things, designing exhibitions and experiences related to art or historical exhibitions, graphic design, composing and arranging music, including the selection of background music, as well as IT specialists, including those specialising in the preparation of publications in e-pub and other formats.

ARTeria has experience in:

• preparing educational materials
• preparing sound settings – ensuring high-quality narration and subtle musical accompaniment that does not interfere with the spoken word
• creating accessible digital materials
• ensuring the integration of various digital formats and knowledge of the principles of inclusivity

The recordings were designed as a step-by-step guide, leading visitors through all the display cases of the ‘Pyskowice Miasto’ exhibition. Each object is described in an accessible, narrative way, emphasising the history of the town, the railway station and the significance of the exhibits. The tour covers the following thematic sections: photographs, urban plans, the ‘Seal’ sculpture, railway equipment and educational objects.

The narrative has been prepared in neutral, understandable language, with short paragraphs and a clear division into segments corresponding to individual display cases. Additional contextual comments have been used to explain the significance of the exhibits and link them to local history.

• MP3 audio recordings that can be played on smartphones and tablets
• division into short modules corresponding to each object
• combination of selected elements of the recordings with a PDF file and an e-pub publication about the exhibition

• the need to adapt the language of the narration to different age groups and people with different needs
• avoiding encyclopaedic language; focusing on stories, interesting facts, context
• technical limitations in recordings due to the acoustics of the room
• synchronisation of display case numbers with the content of the audio guide

• developing a clear script and segmenting the narration into short modules
• testing the recordings in the exhibition hall under real conditions

The MOKiS team will decide at a later date on the method of access – whether in the form of QR codes or via the institution’s website; in both versions, personal phones can be used to ensure the widest possible access. The tool is available in three languages: Polish, English, and German.

The testers rated the audio guide very positively. They emphasised the clarity of the narration, the accessibility of the content, the possibility of independent exploration, and the interesting educational format. People with sensory difficulties appreciated the ability to adjust the playback volume, e.g. on smartphones.

The project showed that an audio guide can significantly increase the accessibility of an exhibition and visitor engagement. It is worth promoting such solutions in cultural institutions, especially for educational and historical exhibitions. Excessively long narrative segments and overly complex language, which may limit the reception of content, should be avoided.
ARTeria contributed technical expertise and knowledge of accessibility standards, while MOKIS and Stacja Pyskowice provided support in scriptwriting and editing. The main challenges included adapting the narrative to different audience groups and technical conditions. The project demonstrated that effective cooperation between institutions and organisations can create an innovative, accessible and attractive visitor experience.