Interrogations: Creative Interdisciplinarity in Art and Design Research

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. 

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 you to submit an abstract (300 words maximum) with author/title in 
heading, and a short CV by 24th Nov 2008. Send materials or enquiries to 
Session Organisers:
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More details about the conference can be found at:
http://www.interrogations.org.uk/event210108_details.htm