INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE

Introduction
Keywords
• Disciplines
• Multidisciplinarity
• Interdisciplinarity
– Narrow vs. Broad Interdisciplinarity
• Transdisciplinarity
 Discipline: meanings of the word
A. An organized branch of knowledge or learning
(an academic discipline).
 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).
 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.
 Discipline: meanings of the word
D. The control or regulation of behavior by
means of external force (such as punishment).
• 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).
• Academic life is now organized around specialized disciplines.
• Can we move beyond isolated disciplines? Should we do so?
 Can we move beyond isolated disciplines?

1. Multidiscilinarity
2. Interdisciplinarity
3. Transdisciplinarity

Note: There is no agreed-upon definition of these three terms.

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

(1890-1962) integrated
statistics and biology,
creating the discipline of
population genetics.
• The combination of biology, computer science,
mathematics (statistics), and engineering led
to the birth of bioinformatics.
 Contemporary art example
The use of methods from computer science and
mathematics in visual art gave birth to
computational or algorithmic art.
Algorithmic art: Roman Verostko
 Manfred Mohr
http://vimeo.com/6524
1719
http://vimeo.com/6759
8990
http://vimeo.com/3245
1215
Japanese artist Hiroshi Kawano (1925-2012) used
computers to research the logic of art-making.
Artificial Mondrian, 1967
 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)

At the Fogg Art Museum in
Harvard, Alan Burroughs
used X-rays of paintings in
the 1940s.

These methods are

sometimes applied in multi-
disciplinary 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.
Recent trends in the
humanities study
culture (literature,
film, etc.) using
mathematical and
scientific methods.
• An interdisciplinary practice involves
participants who have to learn more than one
discipline and in so doing bring about a new
form of learning.
 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).
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.

• An example of narrow interdisciplinarity is
intermedia in the arts.

• The concept of Intermedia was mainly

developed by the Fluxus group members.
• 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.
PAINTING OR
PERFORMANCE?
Shigeko Kubota
Vagina Painting
1965
John Cage
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik
Violin To Be Dragged
on the Street
1961
Nam June Paik
Listening to Music through the Mouth
1963
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.

In contrast,
computer art and
other types of
art+science or
computational
humanities
practices manifest
very broad
interdisciplinarity.
Art and computer science (Yoha’s Endless War)
Perspective painting is one of the
most successful examples of broad
interdisciplinarity in the arts.
• Artist Piero della Francesca was a very
competent mathematician and often used
geometric methods in his work.
• Pierre Schaeffer
was a musician
and an engineer.
• His theoretical
writings
borrowed ideas
from
philosophy.
• His work is very
broadly
interdisciplinary.
 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.
 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.
Systems Theory studies
the organization and
operation of systems.
 Transdisciplinarity example: Systems Theory

• Many objects can be considered as systems:

– A system of particles
– A flock of birds or a herd of cattle
– A country or a city
• The game SimCity, for example, simulates a city as a
dynamic system.
– An economy, even the world economy, can be
viewed as a system
– Transportation is organized as a system.
– The law can also
be studied as a
system.

– Contemporary
computers also
include operating
systems.
– 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.
• 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.
– 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.
Systems theory influenced art-making: SYSTEMS
ART.
• Systems Theory provides a common
perspective on many different disciplines.
Another example of transdisciplinarity

VISUAL STUDIES
The study of images and visual culture in a
broad sense.
• The use of images is common to many
different disciplines.
• There are many kinds of images:
– Maps
– Mathematical diagrams
– Paintings (art images)
– Scientific visualizations
• 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.
• 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.
Feminism raises new questions about science, for instance:
Traditional scholars assume that science is gender-neutral,
but feminists question this viewpoint.
 Feminism and science studies
• Ruth Bleier, • Margaret Rossiter,
• Adele Clarke, • Linda Layne,
• Anne Fausto Sterling, • Helen Longino,
• Joan Fujimura, • Carolyn Merchant,
• Donna Haraway, • Rayna Rapp,
• Sandra Harding, • Hilary Rose,
• Evelynn Hammond, • Londa Schiebinger,
• Ruth Hubbard, • Bonnie Spanier,
• Evelyn Fox Keller, • Sharon Traweek,
• Emily Martin, • Nancy Tuana,
• Sue Rosser, • Sadie Plant.
• Sharyn Clough
 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
• 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).
 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
 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): 119–126.
http://www.uta.edu/faculty/repko/INTS_4391/SMOOTHIE.htm

• A simple video summary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7cN8NW0ZEs