The current discussion on art seems to increasingly focus on a research-based and research-oriented discourse. How does this influence the concept of experiment that, in the past century, has been so crucial for an ever- innovating art practice? Did the discourse on artistic research and its methodologies redefine our ideas regarding experiments and experimentality? Does current research generate new types of methodologies reassessing
the nature of experimentation?
The first Research Pavilion (Venice Biennale 2015) approached these issues from an institutional point of view: What are the consequences of a new perspective on experimentality for the current situation of art education and the development of topical curatorial strategies? Is it time for rethinking the very concept of laboratory? Or could this concept intrinsically signify novel connections between science, aesthetics and politics in the context of artistic research?
