Deep art-science collaborations: the mother of invention

Art-science collaborations organize interdisciplinary inquiries around research themes of mutual interest. The clash between art’s open-endedness, and its mortal enemy, the hypothesis-driven protocol, make it difficult for scientists to understand how art-science collaborations can be mutually beneficial. As it turns out, the boundary-challenging aspects of these collaborations often force participants to question the context of their research and their discipline’s internal culture. Deep collaborations, especially those aided by technological enhancements, could lead to a sort of creative hypothesis-generating ambiance among participants. Art-science collaborations will and should continue to proliferate as we enter a yet another renaissance showing that interdisciplinary cross-pollination is the mother of invention.