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INTELLIGENCE: Interdisciplinary Forum

INTELLIGENCE: Interdisciplinary Forum

When

9 May 2026, 10:00 am4:00 pm

Location

The Potter Museum of Art
Cnr of Swanston St and Masson Rd, Parkville

Admission

Free, bookings required

For this year’s Interdisciplinary Forum, we convene to explore the multifaceted nature of intelligence. Inspired by the Potter’s current exhibition, A velvet ant, a flower and a bird, and curator Chus Martínez’s provocation to reimagine the term, the day unfolds around these three natural entities. Across the program, we will explore research ranging from what robotic beetles can teach us about magpies and how irises get their names, to the architecture of birds’ nests and how neurotechnology is reshaping our cognition and art.

Researchers and artists will bring their diverse expertise from disciplines including bioscience, cognitive neuroscience, curatorship, ecology and more.

Featuring creative presentations by current Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co)/University of Melbourne (Burnley campus) artist-in-residence Francis Carmody and Dr Dean Schrieke, Research Fellow in Green Infrastructure, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, the University of Melbourne; and artist Dr Allison Gibbs in conversation with Dr Lauren Bliss, Research Fellow - Research Focussed, School of Computing and Information Systems, the University of Melbourne.

Convened by Dr Kyla McFarlane, Academic Engagement Fellow and Isabella Hone-Saunders, Assistant Curator, Art Museums

Sessions

Introduction and welcome

Charlotte Day, Director, Art Museums, Museums and Collections, the University of Melbourne

Session 1: Velvet ant

10:15 am11:15 am

Innovation Inspired by Insects by Professor Devi Stuart-Fox, School of Biosciences, the University of Melbourne

Brainrot or Brainmaxxing? Cognition, Technical Systems, and Contemporary Art by Stephanie Berlangieri, Curator – Research, Monash University Museum of Art

From Counting on Fingers to Shopping Lists – How We Outsource Our Thinking by Iroise Dumontheil, Professor of Psychology and ARC Future Fellow, the University of Melbourne

Creative presentation: Wet Archives

11:15 am11:45 am

Allison Gibbs, artist, in conversation with Dr Lauren Bliss, Research Fellow, School of Computing and Information Systems, the University of Melbourne

Break

11:45 am12 pm

Session 2: Flower

12 pm1 pm

Floral Theatre: Performance, Heat, and Deception in Bloom by Dr Rebecca Miller, Research Scientist in Seed Science at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

Making an Altar to Transformation by Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran, artist and Senior Lecturer, School of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University

Flowers, Food, and Horticultural Kitsch by Dr Chris Williams, Lecturer in Urban Horticulture at the Burnley Campus of the University of Melbourne

Lunch break

1 pm2 pm

Creative presentation: Translations: At the Intersection of Art and Science

2 pm2:45 pm

Francis Carmody, Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MAP Co)/University of Melbourne (Burnley campus) artist-in-residence, in conversation with Dr Dean Schrieke, postdoctoral Research Fellow in Green Infrastructure, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, the University of Melbourne

Session 3: Bird

2:45 pm3:45 pm

Gloss As a Startling Visual Effect: A Study With Australian Magpies and Robotic Beetles by Manisha Koneru, PhD candidate and visual ecologist, School of Biosciences, the University of Melbourne 

The Wonders of Bird’s Nests by Iliana Medina, Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Evolution, School of Biosciences, the University of Melbourne

Science Fiction imaginings: First Nations Perspectives by Mia Boe, artist

Close

3:45 pm4 pm

Speakers

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