We will establish a collaboration at the intersection of research practices and artistic practices between Interacting Minds Centre, and Studio Olafur Eliasson. We develop experiments that explore perception, decision-making, action, notions of togetherness, collaboration, and transmission of knowledge. These experiments become part of projects and installations presented in museums and other public institutions to become part of a global, knowledge-producing network. Linking experimentation and experience in participatory settings with public access may create a unique, shared space for personal reflection with global reach. It will also provide otherwise inaccessible, culturally differentiated knowledge about human experiences and actions across the world.
Today we are witnessing deep crises in trust and social cohesion. What information is trustworthy? What are facts? How do our perceptions and emotions contribute to what we think and how we act? How do we make sense of, navigate, and participate in society? Environmental and political challenges abound, and these can only be solved through collaboration and innovation – both technological and social. This calls for new forms of thinking and acting. In response to this challenge, we aspire to develop a strong dialogue between the arts and the sciences, two of the dominant creative forces in society today – a dialogue that embraces the responsibility that the freedom of thought and creativity entail.
The project establishes a shared space for experimentation and dialogue between the research environment at the Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University and the artistic environment at Studio Olafur Eliasson, Berlin. To develop our experiments, we will work with researchers, artists and institutions across the world, e..g at Institute of Philosophy, University of London, Tate Modern and Trapholt. We develop and explore experiments and installations, first in relative confined situations, later in public spaces in different countries at specific occasions. Critically important, we design, research and document the process of dialogue, within and between participants and the public.
The project establishes a dialogue between art, science and the public. It develops experiments to explore identity, shared decisions and cultural transmission. An anticipated outcome is the emergence of new, shared narratives and models for action that will enable us to navigate the uncertain future that we face today. We open for a genuine involvement of the public in co-creating data, knowledge, and understanding. This draws on the ability of art and culture to touch and engage individuals and to create safe zones of experimentation and experience and on the ability of research to bring knowledge out in the open, to create a space to share experience. This public component is intended to integrate our project into the heart of society and work for the common good.
