Experimental geographies

Abstract

The proliferation of the term 'experimental' in human geography has given rise to the question of how geographers experiment. Given the range of different examples -from explorations of sensory methods to attempts at transforming the role of publics in decision-making -it becomes clear that one cannot talk about a unified experimental geographical approach. While projects share common themes such as challenging methodological limitations or wishing to play a more active part in the 'production of space', they also show fundamental differences in their attitude towards knowledge-making and intervention in the world. A starting point for further research and debate, rather than a comprehensive survey, this article outlines themes, differences and productive tensions within the discourse, and highlights the need to examine the wider politics that experimental approaches are embedded in. Experimental GeographiesThe intrinsic complexity of living systems … does not impose a dramatic limit on any possibility of experimentation. What it imposes is the necessity for an intelligent experimentation, which assumes the risky responsibility of asking relevant questions. Isabelle Stengers (1997, p. 16)

Geographies of Experiment/Experimental Geographies: A Rough Guide

“…Artistic settings do not necessarily seek to replicate the laboratory model of experimentation, but they may ‘have as much rigour as any other experimental set‐up’ (Thrift , 12), employing carefully crafted socio‐material arrangements for shaping novel entities, events and techniques of expression, as indicated by recent geographical work on environmental art (Thornes ), literature (Lorimer ), animated photography and film (Clarke and Doel ), dance (McCormack ) and bioart (Abrahamsson and Abrahamsson ) (for overviews, see Hawkins ; Last ). Scientific sites have also figured in various types of artistic experiments, as is evident from past collaborations between artists and scientists on perceptual phenomena (Smith ), the ongoing exchange of influences between science and architecture (Galison and Thompson ; Picon and Ponte ), and recent aesthetico‐theoretical interventions into bioengineering (da Costa and Philip ) and military science (Davies ).…”

“…This part of the article lends insight into work that could be termed experimental geography , because it seeks to unfold what the notion of experiment may have to offer for geographical research practices (see Davies ; Enigbokan and Patchett ; Hawkins ; Last ). It is interesting to notice that many of the aforementioned studies are not simply describing how others experiment but partake in experiments themselves by tracing out the empirical and ethical, theoretical and methodological possibilities that these open for geographers, encouraging them to ‘experiment with the multiple ways in which the world can and is coming to be’ (Greenhough , 50).…”

“…The aim of this article is therefore to unfold some of the implications of the notion of experiment for geographers, both as an empirical phenomenon and as an orientation to knowledge, while at the same time contributing to recent reassessments of experimentation across the social sciences (see Davies ; Gross ; Guggenheim ; Last ; Powell and Vasudevan ; Rabinow ) . As will become clear, the notion of experiment does not so much trace out a clear‐cut area of enquiry as a general ‘ethos’ (Latham and Conradson , 1904) of researching and thinking that potentially fosters more collaborative and responsive modes of working as well as highlights possible ways of enhancing geographical learning.…”

Responsible scientists and a citizens' panel: new storylines for creative engagement between science and the public

“…This mirrors the increasingly prominent place of visual culture and visual methodologies in cultural geography in general (Hawkins ; Rose ; Tolia‐Kelly ). Engagements have not solely been based on the visual, but other forms of sensory engagement have been used in ‘experimental geographies’ (Last ). These encounters bring great benefits, for as Rogers (, 60) suggests, ‘the performing arts elucidate much broader concerns about the world we live in, and provide a means by which we might re‐imagine it’.…”

Writing as righting: Truth and reconciliation, poetics, and new geo‐graphing in colonial Canada

“…Geohumanties and our creative re/turn: How to re/present re/form geographic writing While critical anti-colonial geographers are actively involved in thinking through decolonization and colonial violence, geography is also in the midst of a creative re-turn, a re-turn that questions the very forms and structures by and through which we make geographic meaning, knowledge, or create the geographies in which we live (Hawkins 2013;Marston and de Leeuw 2013). As noted by Last (2012), geographers engage in experimental political geographies that distance themselves from "reductive forms of testing" (707) and are instead marked by pushing "the limitations of current conventions of representation and knowledge-making" (708). These include "embedding new forms of citizen involvement in institutional processes [and] questioning disciplinary boundaries through the use of [for instance] poetry in academic writing" (Last 2012, 707).…”