Experimental Errors: navigating accidents in practice-based research

Across art, science and engineering, experimentation, iteration and prototyping share a capacity to generate discoveries through failure. While their languages and institutional cultures differ, artists, scientists and engineers often employ similar creative methods. Experiments do more than test ideas: they create conditions for the unexpected to emerge, producing what Hans Rheinberger calls “epistemic things” – phenomena whose significance is not yet understood. Through making, the research question itself evolves. In this context, failure becomes a productive form of inquiry. This lecture will explore how resistance, accidents and unexpected behaviours can reveal new possibilities, generating new questions, insights and directions for further research. Details: • Date: Friday 29 October, 5pm to 6pm • Venue: Newton Room (201), Level 2, Electrical & Electronic Engineering Building (193), Parkville, The University of Melbourne • Format: In-person • Cost: Free This event is part of a Culture of Experimentation series, held over a few separate dates. The series explores the fascinating history, challenges, and methodologies of interdisciplinary collaboration across art, science, and engineering, and reveals how encounters between these fields have become a blueprint for new forms of knowledge synthesis and a driving force behind contemporary creative culture. Follow the link below for information on the other sessions: Culture of Experimentation: Converging Art, Science & Engineering