EMERGENCE

February 20 – March 1, 2026  ·  Stroanfreggan House, Dumfriesshire

A collaborative workshop exploring complexity and self-organization through art and science.

Outputs →

Purpose

We share the intuition behind the old idea that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. This residency asks what it really means for properties to emerge: what is the process? what does it look like? how does it happen across media, systems, and scales?

We aim to bring together artists, engineers, writers, scientists, philosophers, and people of multiple disciplines to explore these questions together.


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Organisers

Charlotte Merzbacher

Dr. Charlotte Merzbacher

Speculative Fiction · Artificial Intelligence · Bioengineering

Charlotte recently completed a PhD in Biomedical Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh, focused on machine learning applied to mathematical models of engineered cells. She writes the newsletter Speculation Lab and fantasy and science fiction. She was a 2025 Resident Artist at Arteles Creative Center, and has published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

cjmerzbacher.github.io →

Andrew Pelos

Andrew Pelos

Neuroscience · Queer Theory

Andy has experience across the scientific and discursive worlds of academia and biotechnology, primarily focused on systems and circuit neuroscience of pain. A graduate student in Neuroscience at the University of Washington, he holds a BA in Molecular Biology and Gender Studies from Pomona College.

linkedin →

Liam Carpenter-Urquhart

Liam Carpenter-Urquhart

Transformative Futures · Speculative Fiction · Collective Storytelling

Liam is a student and writer living in Stockholm, studying futuring and forecasting methods as a PhD student at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. He focuses on approaches to the future that foreground the diversity of ways people connect to nature. He also (intermittently) updates the newsletter Loose Δ.

linkedin →