ERRAR is a collective project dedicated to artistic research in photography, operating at the intersection of critical urban theory, photographic practice and experimental forms of dissemination. Developed within HM3: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, the project rethinks urban life through artistic experimentation, mobilising photography as a critical and speculative tool to address the cultural and social dimensions of “smartness” and sustainability. Departing from two decades of smart city discourse, ERRAR interrogates the condition of the “user” within networked, data-driven environments. While early formulations—shaped by figures such as Buckminster Fuller and Manuel Castells—conceived the city as an optimisable system, critical perspectives from Henri Lefebvre and Edward Soja reframe it as socially produced and contested, while Chantal Mouffe foregrounds agonistic space as a condition of democratic plurality. The smart city thus emerges as a terrain of negotiation where competing imaginaries of urban life unfold. Within this framework, photography is approached as a situated and processual practice capable of engaging with these tensions. Bringing together partners in Lisbon, Dublin and Brussels, ERRAR aims to develop a printed, portable journal as a site for articulating artistic processes and bridging academia with the art-world. By foregrounding material formats and collaborative exchange, the project addresses key challenges in artistic research, positioning wandering and error as critical strategies for reimagining smart urban futures.
