Cold Topics is an ongoing experiment in collaborative art, learning, and creative exchange at Dream Lab. It began when students were thinking about what a small business could be. Rather than starting with a product, we began with an instruction: make an artwork and offer it for a moderate price.

From there, How to Grow an Alien emerged through drawing, writing, conversation, and play, and Cold Topics has evolved into a series of artist-made objects, instructions, and ideas created through conversation and experimentation. The first exchange was set at $3.