Helga Nowotny is professor emerita of Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, where she was a professor of Social Studies of Science; she is also former president of the European Research Council. She speaks about her research during the workshop ‘Experimenting, Experiencing, Reflecting – Art and science at work in the public realm’, which was held at Studio Olafur Eliasson between 26 and 27 June 2018. The workshop was a collaboration between Olafur Eliasson and Andreas Roepstorff, Studio Olafur Eliasson, and the Interacting Minds Centre in Aarhus. The primary goals of the experiment were to create a sense of enthusiasm and possibility, to open up a fertile dialogue, to achieve consensus on critical topics for further engagement, and, finally, to engage participants through experiences and experiments rather than presentations, emphasising participation, embodiment, and collaboration.