Publications

A new space of operation

By: Clare Cumberlidge

I’ve been working in and around transdisciplinary practice for the last twenty years now, and have found it to be a fertile and stimulating ground both for those working consistently within it or just passing through, I’ve just noticed that only recently has it started to become fashionable.

The art world seems to be shifting, to acknowledge the importance and value of transdisciplinary work. This is partly a function of the cycles of fashion but also an unavoidable reflection of the increasing number of artists who are not content to have their work framed purely in a gallery context. One can trace the shift from the early 1980s through from interdisciplinary practice (disciplines talking to each other), to collaborative practice (all working together), to transdisciplinary practice (practitioners able to operate outside their own fields). My background is as an independent curator, specialising in inter/cross/trans disciplinary practice, opening up new areas of practice for artists. In the 1980s I curated a large-scale exhibition on Chicano art of the border states of the US, with particular emphasis on collaborative and cross-cultural practices. In 1993 I launched a programme of artists’ commissions at the Science Museum in London, which pioneered both the relationship between contemporary artists and museology and between artists and scientists. Why am I interested? As a curator: Because I like new thought, I like what happens when you put different...

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