Keynote Conversation: Neurodivergence and the Art Museum
Stuart Neilson, PhD, in conversation with Justin Berry, Creative Producer / Project Director XRPeds Lab, The Yale Center for Immersive Technologies in Pediatrics
As a writer, image-maker, and lecturer in statistics, Stuart Neilson uses his personal experience as an individual with an autism diagnosis to map barriers to access in museums. His keynote will explore how neurodivergent people experience place and space within art museums, as well as how we might advance our understanding of those experiences and address the needs of neurodivergent people in art museums. Using heat-map and stop-motion photography, his photographs visualize the movement within and transitions between spaces in museums, exhibitions, and galleries, and the circulation around them, including the urban streetscape. He is particularly interested in how photography can draw attention to the transitions between spaces and to barriers to access, such as anxiety about entrances, to showcase how “unremarkable” spaces can be difficult for neurodivergent individuals to access.
To learn more, please visit: https://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions-programs/keynote-conversation-neurodivergence-and-art-museum