Experience your senses to the fullest at Union Station’s new blockbuster exhibit, Dialog in the Dark. In this world-class traveling exhibit, visitors enter a world without sight, where everyday situations present new and unexpected challenges, creating a perspective-changing experience. Each of the senses will be heightened as groups work to accomplish tasks like navigating a busy street or choosing the correct dollar bill at a cash register, all without seeing.

Dialog in the Dark is more than an exhibit – it’s a social project and perspective-changing opportunity. Led by blind guides, visitors gain a unique appreciation for those who live in a world without pictures, plus experience a role-reversal as they rely on the guides for a sense of security and orientation. In the darkness, perceptions are enhanced and each of the other senses becomes magnified, allowing guests to “see” again without the use of sight.

Each gallery consists of specially-constructed, fully dark rooms with scents, sounds, wind, temperatures and textures that simulate everyday settings like a park, a city street, or a restaurant, giving visitors a realistic experience of their world without vision. The hands-on opportunities for learning will establish a lasting impression of the importance of our senses and how they play into our lives.

Kansas City will be just the second United States city to host this ambitious and experiential exhibit that has welcomed over five million visitors in more than 20 countries worldwide.

Dialog in the Dark is produced by Premier Exhibitions, Inc. of Atlanta. For more information on the exhibit, please visit www.dialogtickets.com.

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History of Dialog in the Dark and Andreas Heinecke

Andreas Heinecke, PhD, the founder of Dialog in the Dark, partnered with Premier Exhibitions in February 2008 to bring his groundbreaking Exhibition to the United States. Heinecke experienced first hand the lack of employment opportunities for people who are blind and visually impaired when he worked as Vice-Director of the Stiftung Blindenanstalt (Foundation for the Blind) in Hamburg, Germany. He concluded that prejudice created fear, avoidance, and stereotypes, which prevented the disabled from accessing education, information, career opportunities, transportation, and leisure activities. He further concluded that these factors led to worldwide discrimination and marginalization.

Inspired by the philosophy of Martin Buber, which proposes, “…The only way of learning is by encounter,” Heineke concluded that by facilitating an interaction between the “abled” and the “disabled,” prejudices were reduced and new understandings emerged that had lingering positive social ramifications. To this end he created Dialog in the Dark.

In recognition of his pioneering work, Dr. Heineke was awarded a Fellowship in 2005 by Ashoka, a global organization that recognizes social entrepreneurs who strive to make a positive social impact through innovative solutions.

Since its creation in 1988, five million people in 22 countries have attended the Dialog in the Dark experience.