Bryony Roberts

Soft Civic

Steel, rope, metal mesh

“‘Soft Civic’ is a site-specific installation at the City Hall in Columbus, Indiana. Custom-fabricated structures with colorful woven surfaces activate the public spaces around the building’s main entrance as destinations for play, performance, and participation. Enhancing the existing activity at City Hall, the new structures host a series of community-driven events on the themes of democracy and leadership. Both the design of the project and its programming emerged from conversations with local community groups to explore how to make the space more inviting and participatory. The softness of ‘Soft Civic’ refers to the function of the space—a combination of relaxation and political participation—as well as its material quality. Constructed out of woven panels and steel frames, the new structures explore the softness of textiles at a monumental scale. Made through macramé knotting of nylon rope, the woven panels bring the textures of domestic space into the public sphere, encouraging playfulness and interaction at a site of governance.”

— Bryony Roberts

About the artist

Bryony Roberts

American

Bryony Roberts is an artist, designer, and educator. Roberts earned her B.A. in Studio Art and Humanities from Yale University and her Masters in Architecture from Princeton University. Combining methods from art, architecture, and community engagement, Roberts creates immersive environments that transform public spaces and historical sites around the world. Roberts approaches art as a social practice, working with local community groups and advocates to respond to the lived experiences and cultural histories of a place. With projects at international sites such as Lincoln Center in New York, the Federal Plaza in Chicago, the Government Quarter in Oslo, and the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome, her practice operates across a range of mediums and scales from performances to site-specific installations. Roberts has been awarded a NYFA / NYSCA Artist Fellowship, the Architectural League Prize, and New Practices New York from AIA New York as well as support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation, and the MacDowell Colony.

In addition to her artistic practice, Roberts is actively involved in collective advocacy work. Roberts co-founded WIP Collaborative, a New York-based feminist collaborative of independent artists and designers that undertakes design, research, and advocacy projects. She also co-founded the global collective Feminist Spatial Practices, which is building a participatory online platform for artists and designers that work towards intersectional gender equity around the world.

As an educator, Roberts teaches as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Roberts initiates many research and writing projects on themes of social practice and design. She guest-edited the volume Log 48: Expanding Modes of Practice, edited the book Tabula Plena: Forms of Urban Preservation published by Lars Müller Publishers, and co-guest-edited Log 31: New Ancients.