Interdisciplinary, crossdisciplinary or transdisiplinary, artistic practices can combine with multiple fields to develop truly engaging and profound projects. But as a non-artist, how do you initiate a discourse with the arts? As an artist how do you access and engage with non-arts specialists? Whether you want to converse with different practices or simply share your ideas, Mixing Fields aims to spark collaborations across the divide.
This platform is organised by Anthony Elliot, Seila Fernández Arconada and Megan Wakefield.
The initiative to organise this project came from several places. The organisers felt that collaborative and cross-disciplinary arts projects could offer important insights, that a single practice may struggle to achieve on its own. In organising the Mixing Fields event we hope to:
- Allow specialists from different fields of practice to meet in person. In the era of office cubicles, it seems more and more that our day-to-day work is silo-ed off from people doing other things. Rather than online call outs for projects which are often anonymous and impersonal, and make us spend even more time at the computer, we are placing a value on face-to-face meetings as one of the best ways to see if you might want to work with somebody.
- Allow practitioners of different specialisms to better understand what people actually do in other fields. Do you know what artists do Monday to Friday? Do you know what a Scientist or Historian’s work actually involves? If you are keen to embark on a collaborative project, then this is a chance to learn more about the subject you are thinking about, directly from those working in it.
- Spark projects which mix up different fields and bring about exciting new ideas. Past collaborative projects have investigated how we use technology, our relationship with the landscape, what parts of history are remembered and which are forgotten, and shown the latest scientific knowledge in publicly engaging formats. We believe the arts has a lot to offer other disciplines and we will be able to find many benefits from being less divided in our investigation of contemporary issues.
For more information:
http://mixingfields.tumblr.com/