INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE. Introduction

Transcription

1 INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE Introduction

2 Keywords Disciplines Multidisciplinarity Interdisciplinarity Narrow vs. Broad Interdisciplinarity Transdisciplinarity

3 Discipline: meanings of the word A. An organized branch of knowledge or learning (an academic discipline).

4 Discipline: meanings of the word B. The act of training someone (the disciple ) into some organized activity or system of rules (such as one of the branches of knowledge).

5 Discipline: meanings of the word C. The ability to engage in a focused and difficult activity that requires a substantial sacrifice of time, effort, etc. and so demands self-control and perseverance.

6 Discipline: meanings of the word D. The control or regulation of behavior by means of external force (such as punishment).

7 This course will focus on the first meaning of discipline (i.e, academic discipline), but this meaning is related to the others. It also implies training (second meaning) and focus and self-control (third meaning). Sometimes it involves external punishment, such as grade penalties (fourth meanings).

8 Academic life is now organized around specialized disciplines. Can we move beyond isolated disciplines? Should we do so?

9 Can we move beyond isolated disciplines? 1. Multidiscilinarity 2. Interdisciplinarity 3. Transdisciplinarity Note: There is no agreed-upon definition of these three terms.

10 1. Multidisciplinarity (MD) Combines different disciplines, without challenging the nature or boundary of those disciplines. Often involves teams of experts from different fields working on a common topic. These experts complement one another.

11 Example of multidisciplinarity Many cinema teams are multidisciplinary: computer scientists (special effects), writers, programmers, art directors, business people, etc.

12 Example A movie director might ask a computer scientist to develop computer graphics. The director does not learn computer science. The director focuses on the creative side and the scientist focuses on the technical side.

13 The multidisciplinary situation Different participants come from different disciplines. The work of each person is focused on her/his own discipline. Each person does not need to learn much, if anything, about disciplines other than her/his own. The work of the group does not lead to the creation of a new discipline.

14 multidisciplinarity Different experts work together but do not share or transfer their skills. Each discipline retains its own boundaries. Each discipline is not fundamentally changed, so there is little effective interaction between the different disciplines.

15 2. Interdisciplinarity (ID) ID occurs whenever skills from one discipline are transferred to another discipline, or two or more disciplines are fused together. Participants need to acquire knowledge from more than one discipline. This transfer creates an innovative way of working that re-organizes at least one of the disciplines.

16 This integration sometimes gives birth to a new discipline or subdiscipline. In this case, interdisciplinarity is a stage in the creation of a new discipline. For instance, Ronald Fischer ( ) integrated statistics and biology, creating the discipline of population genetics.

17 The combination of biology, computer science, mathematics (statistics), and engineering led to the birth of bioinformatics.

18 Contemporary art example The use of methods from computer science and mathematics in visual art gave birth to computational or algorithmic art.

19 Algorithmic art: Roman Verostko

20 Manfred Mohr

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22 Japanese artist Hiroshi Kawano ( ) used computers to research the logic of art-making. Artificial Mondrian, 1967

23 Example from Art Studies Technical Art History was born from the use of scientific methods for the observation and analysis of artworks. X-ray of Tilly Kettle, Dancing Girl (1772)

24 At the Fogg Art Museum in Harvard, Alan Burroughs used X-rays of paintings in the 1940s. These methods are sometimes applied in multidisciplinary teams with a clear distinction between the art historian and the scientist. This approach becomes interdisciplinary if the art scholar acquires scientific skills for use in her/his work.

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26 Recent trends in the humanities study culture (literature, film, etc.) using mathematical and scientific methods.

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28 An interdisciplinary practice involves participants who have to learn more than one discipline and in so doing bring about a new form of learning.

29 A VERY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION 1. Narrow interdisciplinarity Combines disciplines that are very close to one another i.e., that share similar methods and models (for example, history and literature, art theory and philosophy, cinema and visual art). 2. Broad interdisciplinarity Combines disciplines with very different methods and models (especially science and humanities).

30 Narrow ID tends to be relatively safe, since it combines disciplines that are already close, and so is not a very interesting kind of ID. In contrast, Broad ID involves substantial changes, beyond each scholar s own comfort zone. Interdisciplinarity is not the calm of an easy security; it begins effectively when the solidarity of the old disciplines breaks down in the interests of a new object and a new language neither of which has a place in the field of the sciences Roland Barthes From: Image-Music-Text, p. 155.

31 An example of narrow interdisciplinarity is intermedia in the arts. The concept of Intermedia was mainly developed by the Fluxus group members.

32 Intermedia is not multimedia Multimedia: different media are combined together in one single art work. The whole could be broken down into separate parts, each of which belongs to a different medium. Intermedia: there is no clear-cut separation between what belongs to one medium and what belongs to another.

33 PAINTING OR PERFORMANCE? Shigeko Kubota Vagina Painting 1965

34 John Cage Nam June Paik

35 Nam June Paik Violin To Be Dragged on the Street 1961

36 Nam June Paik Listening to Music through the Mouth 1963

37 Intermedia practices often break down boundaries between different artistic disciplines, such as painting and performance art. The disciplines being related are often very close to one another (all belong to art and the humanities). The interdisciplinarity is very narrow.

38 In contrast, computer art and other types of art+science or computational humanities practices manifest very broad interdisciplinarity.

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41 Art and computer science (Yoha s Endless War)

42 Perspective painting is one of the most successful examples of broad interdisciplinarity in the arts.

43 Artist Piero della Francesca was a very competent mathematician and often used geometric methods in his work.

44 Pierre Schaeffer was a musician and an engineer. His theoretical writings borrowed ideas from philosophy. His work is very broadly interdisciplinary.

45 SUMMARY OF INTERDISCIPLINARITY Interdisciplinarity involves a substantial change in at least one discipline through the import of skills and knowledge from another discipline, or the creation of a new discipline through the interaction of two existing disciplines. Interdisciplinarity can be broad or narrow.

46 3. TRANSDISCIPLINARITY The development of a holistic perspective that transcends any existing discipline and gives a common point of view on different disciplines. Possible examples include structuralism, systems theory, visual studies, and feminism. Each gives a common perspective that applies in many different disciplines, such as physics, biology, anthropology, psychology, social science, literary history, etc.

47 Systems Theory studies the organization and operation of systems.

48 Transdisciplinarity example: Systems Theory Many objects can be considered as systems: A system of particles

49 A flock of birds or a herd of cattle

50 A country or a city The game SimCity, for example, simulates a city as a dynamic system.

51 An economy, even the world economy, can be viewed as a system

52 Transportation is organized as a system.

53 The law can also be studied as a system. Contemporary computers also include operating systems.

54 The artworld can be viewed as a system, too. Many different disciplines study systems, including physics, biology, economics, urban studies, legal studies, computer science, art theory, etc.

55 Systems Theory attempts to build a general theory of systems. It asks: What is common to all systems studied in different disciplines? One answer is that every system has an environment.

56 Systems Theory is essentially transdisciplinary because it studies something common to many different disciplines. It thus aims to provide a more general or holistic perspective that cuts across those different disciplines.

57 Systems theory influenced art-making: SYSTEMS ART.

58 Systems Theory provides a common perspective on many different disciplines.

59 Another example of transdisciplinarity VISUAL STUDIES The study of images and visual culture in a broad sense.

60 The use of images is common to many different disciplines. There are many kinds of images: Maps

61 Mathematical diagrams

62 Paintings (art images)

63 Scientific visualizations

64 Visual Studies is the study of images and visual culture in general, not only in art. It studies something common to many disciplines (engineering, physics, life sciences, art, design, etc.), since visual materials are used in different areas. VS can therefore be considered transdisciplinary.

65 Feminist theory focuses on the role and position of women in society. It gives a point of view across various disciplines and so can be considered as transdisciplinary. Although feminism is sometimes associated with the humanities, it has been applied to the study of science.

66 Feminism raises new questions about science, for instance: Traditional scholars assume that science is gender-neutral, but feminists question this viewpoint.

67 Feminism and science studies Ruth Bleier, Adele Clarke, Anne Fausto Sterling, Joan Fujimura, Donna Haraway, Sandra Harding, Evelynn Hammond, Ruth Hubbard, Evelyn Fox Keller, Emily Martin, Sue Rosser, Sharyn Clough Margaret Rossiter, Linda Layne, Helen Longino, Carolyn Merchant, Rayna Rapp, Hilary Rose, Londa Schiebinger, Bonnie Spanier, Sharon Traweek, Nancy Tuana, Sadie Plant.

68 PLAY STUDIES Another transdicisplinary area is play studies (ludology). Scholar J. Huizinga believes that all human civilization (including art, the law, politics, science, and philosophy) begins with playing. Playing is thus common to all disciplines. Huizinga made this point in his book Homo Ludens

69 Transdisciplinary approaches are those that study aspects common to many different disciplines, such as: Systems (Systems Theory) Images (Visual Studies) The role of women (Feminist Theory) Play (Ludology).

70 SUMMARY Multidisciplinarity -Combines expertise from different disciplines without challenging the boundary or the nature of each discipline. Interdisciplinarity -Transfers knowledge from at least one disciplines into another discipline, or fuses two or more disciplines, thus changing the nature of each disciplines. -Sometimes produces a new discipline. -Can be narrow or broad. Transdisciplinarity -Studies what is common among various different disciplines. -Examples: Structuralism, Feminism, Systems Theory, Visual Studies

71 Resources Augsburg, Tanya (2005). Becoming Interdisciplinary: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies. Kendall/Hunt. Nissani, M. (1995). "Fruits, Salads, and Smoothies: A Working Definition of Interdisciplinarity". Journal of Educational Thought. 29 (2): A simple video summary: