New Minor in Interdisciplinary Arts - IART!
The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts along with academic partners the School of Art, Creative Writing Program, Moores School of Music, and School of Theatre & Dance offer a Minor in Interdisciplinary Arts (IART). In the spirit of interdisciplinarity (an innate permeability between disciplines and media), the minor (like the practice) is open to students from across the university who have an interest in the study and practice of intersections in the visual and performing arts, writing and beyond.
The IART minor requires a minimum of 15 semester hours, 9 of which must be advanced. A minimum 2.00 grade point average on all courses applied to the minor is required. Students should contact their advisors for requirements and registration details or visit www.mitchellcenterforarts.org and click on “Academic Activities.” We encourage all interested students to contact their advisors, as exceptions to prerequisites will be made during this founding year.
IART Course Descriptions
IART 3300: INTRODUCTION TO INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS / 3 Cr.
An introduction to the history, theory, forms and uses of interdisciplinary arts practices.
Prerequisite: Junior standing and completion of Visual Performing Arts Core, or consent of the instructor.
IART 3395: SELECTED TOPICS IN INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS, “Avant Garde Cinema and Video Art” / 3 Cr. / Fall 2008
An introduction to the historical movements that inform and influence today’s artistic practices in new media, film, and video.
Prerequisite: IART 3300, or consent of the instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topics vary.
IART 3395: SELECTED TOPICS IN INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS, “Digital Tools and Technologies for Collaboration” / 3 Cr. / Fall 2008
A laboratory focused on tools that visual, movement, sound, and text artists may use to collaborate without the obstacles of discipline-specific vocabulary. Technologies may include the Apple iLife package, Max-based software, and motion capture technology.
Prerequisite: IART 3300, or consent of the instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topics vary.
IART 4300: COLLABORATION AMONG THE ARTS / 3 Cr. (Spring only – no Fall section)
Innovative collaborative projects that integrate visual art, creative writing, music, theatre and dance.
Prerequisite: IART 3395, or consent of the instructor.
Please visit www.mitchellcenterforarts.org for frequent updates including updated course descriptions.
New MFA Program Anticipated!
Approval is pending for a new MFA in Interdisciplinary Practice and Emerging Forms (IPEF) - a transdisciplinary program that will mirror the expansion in the fields of contemporary art practice. IPEF will bridge traditional areas of specialization, and pioneer new and emerging technologies methodologies, strategies, and contextual fields of practice.
The programs pluralistic approach will integrate the resources of the School of Art and the University to provide students with the practical, theoretical and analytic tools necessary to engage meaningfully in contemporary (cultural, social, and political) discourse through expanded and emergent models of art making.
This new concentration will provide the School with an MFA studio art concentration that is both reflective of contemporary practice and able to adapt to innovations in the field. It will provide a focal point for new research and artistic production at the frontier of art and technology, and integrate the media-specific disciplines already in place.
Faculty Affiliate Network (FAN)
Since the 1970’s the visual arts have witnessed a steady deconstruction of the boundaries between disciplines, and a meteoric expansion of new fields of practice. Artists now work at the frontiers of science and technology, and within the contexts of social and political activism, defining new forms and pioneering expressive new media.
To meet the needs of students whose interests bisect fields of study that are outside of the prevue of art, we are developing a Faculty Affiliate Network (FAN) through the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, to provide curriculum that is dynamic and responsive to the unique interests of each student.
The FAN network will create an infrastructure of scholars campus wide that have an interest in the arts, and have agreed to mentor students with research needs that fall within their area of expertise. These intersections may occur where, for example, art crosses politics, biology, anthropology, engineering, history, science, economics, psychology or religion. In this way, FAN establishes a fundamentally multidisciplinary platform for creative research.
The network, additionally, will encourage collaboration and experimentation; cultivate art practice that is engaged in larger contextual fields; challenge conventions of production and presentation; and identify new areas of investigation as well as new media.