Social neuroscientist Tania Singer is director of the Department of Social Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig. 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.