ABOUT

The Institute For Comedic Inquiry is an experimental comedy research institute founded by Laura Allcorn. We collaborate with researchers and make it amusing for audiences to explore how emerging technologies shape our lives.



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COMING SOON

Pledge Drive for Attention is a new commission premiering at Science Gallery Melbourne’s DISTRACTION exhibition on July 26th 2025.

What are your biggest digital distractions?

It’s time to steal your attention back from a distracting world. Imagine a future where our brains aren’t being mindlessly warped by attention stealing schemes. The tech masterminds may want us clicking, scrolling and swiping – but why not put your own interests above their profit interests today? Say bye bye to brain rot and collectively break free from digital distractions. Exponential attention growth is possible! Find a pledge buddy, take a seat at a pledge desk and make a pledge in the world’s first Pledge Drive for Attention.

Help us meet our goal to steal back one year of our attention! How many hours can you give to the Pledge-O-Meter?

Made in collaboration with Gloria Mark author of Attention Span and Science Gallery Melbourne’s Sci Curious group. 

“DISTRACTION wants your attention! This Science Gallery Melbourne exhibition plugs into the streaming torrent of content and explores creative ways we can find meaning within it. Click, feel and play your way through experimental art, games and interactive experiences designed to find space for ourselves amidst the chaos.”

From 26 July 2025 – 9 May 2026





ON VIEW

SKU-Market is part of BRAVE NEW FUTURE, the first exhibition of the Science Gallery Network in Latin America.

“The exhibition invites us to reflect on how we can imagine possible futures and whether we can still have the courage to embark on an expedition into brighter, better worlds. The show brings together different visions of tomorrow, exploring unknown environments and hopeful societies for today’s youth, presented through various disciplines and forms of imagination.”

From November 2024 - July 2025

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THE FIRST AI QUIZ SHOW

We made a quiz show for the AI era about large language models called Who Wants To Write An Email?

The show premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in September 2023 and was nominated for the Technical Innovation Award

This project was many years in the making, taking shape long before ChatGPT was a thing. We’re wrapping up our project evaluation to share how humorous and unexpected forms of public engagement can draw in new audiences.

This project was funded by a Science Foundation Ireland Discover Programme Grant and supported by Trinity College Dublin The Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and ADAPT Research Centre.


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MORE EXPERIMENTS

Our projects invite you to rehearse for the future you want.

Take the hot seat in a satirical game show about AI-authored emails.

Get sweaty in an absurdist workout for thwarting surveillance technology.

Shop a mini-market that claims to know you better than you know yourself.


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QUOTE OF THE MOMENT

“Without having a sense of humor to take pleasure in the incongruous or absurd, we might spend our whole lives in a perpetual state of confusion, rather than occasionally transforming those feelings into amusement. In this sense, humor is as important an evolutionary trait as intelligence, because without it we wouldn't be able to cope with the complex world we’ve created.”

- Scott Weems, HA! The Science of When We Laugh and Why


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