AHRC Postgraduate Conference, De Montfort University & Loughborough University.

1st and 2nd July 2009, Loughborough University, School of Art and Design

 The conference addresses various aspects of interdisciplinary approaches in Art & Design research, as well as practical and theoretical methods for interlinking with other disciplines. The objective is to explore interdisciplinarity as a new trend that brings together different disciplines, forging new connections and contributions to collective knowledge. Ultimately, the aim is to promote and encourage interdisciplinarity as a way to enhance creativity in research.

 Contemporary culture is full of disciplinary overlaps; concepts and linkages once abandoned re-emerge, meanings are transformed and re-configured. Similarly, there is a tendency towards interdisciplinary research in art and design. New styles emerge from unique interlinking of versatile approaches and techniques within and beyond art and design practices. This trend facilitates bridging disciplines, traditions and cultures and provides new opportunities for researchers and practitioners like Simone O'Callaghan promoting interdisciplinarity in her work.

 According to Wolfgang Welsh’s idea of ‘transculturality’, an amalgamation of theories and disciplines is created through focusing on different spheres present in one culture. ‘Transculturality’ consists of multi- and inter-culturality that transgresses cultural spheres and articulates internal and external networking. It refers to Mieke Bal’s ‘migratory aesthetics’: travelling, in concepts, from one discipline to another. The hybridization of culture causes nomadism - intersecting, mingling spaces, exchanging information between cultures. This form of travelling is an opportunity to link up rather than cause divergence, producing diversity rather than uniformity. Transiting of various layers, multiculturalisms create a transcultural network – an overlap that allows exchange, understanding and transition. Concepts are more capable of affiliations, their force is transculturally effective, not limited to a specific context or culture but rather trans-, meta- and inter- disciplinary, promoting exchange instead of separation. Therefore, it is essential to explore why and how to bridge the gap between different disciplines.

 This conference aims to address the challenges and trends of interdisciplinary research that contributes to art and design. It encourages presentations of methodological and theoretical insights, as well as practical projects based on interdisciplinarity as a method of transferring ideas and stimulating creativity across disciplines. It will also discuss various aspects of working with unfamiliar concepts and approaches from multi-dimensional fields.

 We seek any inventive and creative interdisciplinary insights with a broad understanding of the topic. Possible topics may include but are not limited to:

Theoretical developments (what and why)

• Why interdisciplinarity?
• How does interdisciplinarity stimulate theorists and artists?
• The history of disciplines and interdisciplinarity.
• How to redefine disciplines and interdisciplinarity.
• The parallel between interdisciplinarity and other intellectual spaces
• Can art and design be treated as a separate sphere or is it now totally immersed in transitions, linkages, crossovers?

Methods and Tools (how)

• How to cross from one discipline to another? How to connect varying or similar paradigms? How to make a whole from a plurality of disciplines? How to translate the sources: modify or stay 'true' to them?
• Transfiguration, intersecting disciplines from art, design and 'outside' them, creating a net of disciplines from diverse areas – how to locate and examine the crossovers and gaps?

Practice-based research through examples

• The relationship of theory to practice in interdisciplinary research.
• How interdisciplinary research might be best performed.
• How inderdisciplinarity works? – an insider’s view on crossing disciplines.
• Individual projects with an interdisciplinary approach
• Collaborative projects across the disciplines - advantages and possible problems.
• How to start an interdisciplinary project?--various opportunities

We invite papers from current and graduated research students as well as academics and practitioners in art and design. We are also looking for artworks and design solutions from digital visualisations to physical installations, which could highlight significant features of interdisciplinary research. Researchers and professionals beyond art and design disciplines are also invited to present research that contributes to art and design in novel and interdisciplinary ways.

We invite to submit an abstract (300 words maximum) with author/title in heading, and a short CV by 6th February 2009. Send materials or enquiries to Session Organisers:

b.sliwinska@lboro.ac.uk and v.dajanev@lboro.ac.uk

Financial support may be available subject to individual circumstance, please contact N.Counley@lboro.ac.uk

 

For further information please contact
Nikki Counley N.Counley@lboro.ac.uk
Hema Naran hnaran@dmu.ac.uk