“If we knew what it was we were doing it wouldn’t be called research, would it?“ (attributed to Albert Einstein).
Founded by Anna Dumitriu in 2004, The Institute of Unnecessary Research, or IUR as it is often known, presents a new paradigm in the way artists are engaging with the world through trans-disciplinary arts practices. Part arts collective, part think tank, the IUR is a global hub for researchers and artists working experimentally, and deeply engaged with curiosity-driven research. For the IUR, art acts like a meta-discipline interweaving networks of ideas, so that our work transgresses the boundaries of traditional academia and critically questions methods of knowledge production in the 21st Century. Artists are innovators, and our role is to engage with and, if necessary, critique emerging technologies and scientific developments. Our artworks, talks and other outputs are designed to be accessible for audiences from diverse backgrounds in ways that are engaging and enabling. From synthetic biology to robotics and AI or from tissue culture to neuroscience and virtual reality, philosophy and ethics are always at the core of our work which unpacks the instrumentalization of science for commercial and political ends.
The IUR is an international organisation and our department heads are based around the globe across four continents, coming from the UK, the Netherlands, Egypt, Japan/USA, Finland, Austria, Singapore, France, Germany, and Canada.
To keep up to date with our latest work and events please join our popular and active facebook group where we post details of art-science and research events or exhibitions, jobs opportunities, and arts commissions of interest to like minded people from across our global community.