‘Outside The Lines,’ An Immersive Installation That’s Inclusive To Visitors Of All Ability Levels

Architect, designer, and scholar Bryony Roberts calls the design “a social practice.” An advocate for the neurodiverse and the disabled, she’s responsible for the colorful installation named “Outside the Lines” in the outdoor piazza at the High Museum of Art, an immersive maze experience inclusive to visitors of all ability levels. Roberts joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom, along with the High’s curator of decorative arts and designs, Monica Obinski, to talk about the installation, what it means for the High and the diverse community it enriches.

“I’ve always been interested in the crossover between art and architecture,” said Roberts. “I love how, in the space between those fields, you can create environments that are really tactile, and immersive, and playful and fun.” The name “Outside the Lines” captures Roberts’ intention to make seemingly orderly structures active, unpredictable, and multi-sensory, calling them “lines that you experience with your body.” She continued, “It’s sort of outside our understanding of lines, as I was taught in architecture. It’s also about crossing the lines that are often drawn between the experiences of people with disabilities and without disabilities, in public space.”