"What is para-lab?

para-lab was founded in 2017 by Annie Carpenter and Andrew Wilson with the aim of experimenting with methods to facilitate collaboration between artists and scientists. There are currently over 20 active participants, operating in a number of working groups, which we hope will develop and evolve over many years. para-lab Report 2023 is the third annual exhibition showcasing research-in-progress and artefacts from these various ongoing long-term collaborations.
para-lab provides a structure for collaboration through discussions, excursions, making sessions, reading groups and talks, operating in a realm which is simultaneously inside, outside, and alongside the university institution, taking methods from the idea of the ‘para-academic’. We aim to test methods for enhancing exchange across disciplines, disrupting unhelpful dichotomies which traditionally emerge when artists collaborate with scientists. Our motto is ‘trust the process’ and thus we emphasise process over outcome, creating a platform for open-ended enquiry beyond institutional objectives. All participants inevitably shift their perspectives in relation to each other, whether that be the learning of scientific or artistic principles.
In order to facilitate collaboration, we run sessions in art studios, science labs, and disciplinary-neutral spaces such as the city streets, or on the moors. We have developed our ‘Ideas Generation Sessions’ where participants learn about each others’ research and go through a series of making exercises. The structure of the sessions allows starting points for projects to emerge and collaborations to form, where the instrumentalisation of art for science outreach is avoided. As a result of these sessions we now have 12 working groups, exploring an array of interdisciplinary themes."

As part of a programme of wider activities, para-lab organise regular excursions where the full collective of members are invited to come together for workshops, exercises, collective endeavour or exploration, without the pressure of any tangible output. The excursion design attends to power imbalances which can exist amongst academics and cross-disciplinary groups by operating in a sphere between work and play. Participants are encouraged to bring their children, partners, dogs or friends along with them, further removing them from their ‘professional’ lives. For the 2023 excursion we occupied some woodland in West Yorkshire, collectively living outdoors for a 24-hour period.