Converging Bodies of Knowledge: Compulsion or Opportunity?

Erhardt, Miklós and Varga, Tünde (2024) Converging Bodies of Knowledge: Compulsion or Opportunity? In: P/References of Design. Cumulus conference proceedings series, 1 . Cumulus Association, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Budapest, pp. 317-318. ISBN 978-952-7549-02-5

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Abstract

For a reminder, in our call, we wrote: "Today, the necessity of taking joint action in the face of global challenges could not be more evident, yet the political economy is tacitly propagating and pressing for increased specialisation as a key to progress. The idea of converging bodies of knowledge cries for theoretical and practical support. The insights art and design education can provide might be instrumental here, as the conflicts underlying the separation between "hard" and "soft" sciences have been played out - in vitro - within their fields of expertise, between design and art. What then are the challenges and potentials of art and design education in integrating different modes of knowledge production? How can the often-opposing interests and assumptions of a variety of stakeholders be reflected through the diverging insights of design and art practitioners? How to address wicked problems, and propose new - whether feasible or utopian - ways of convergence?' The urgency of the call stemmed on the one hand from the anxieties felt globally in the current multicrisis, and on the other, from the situation all of us - practitioners, theoreticians, researchers or educators of art and design - experience firsthand daily, since the introduction of a market-driven focus in higher education, potentially undermining the breadth and depth of creative and intellectual exploration. The neoliberal pursuit of knowledge production creates its unavoidable pressures for immediate impact and siloed approaches, however, it can also present opportunities for art and design to engage in co-creative, trans- and interdisciplinary collaborations with other domains within and outside of academia, capitalising on the holistic nature of creativity that makes art and design an ideal means of outreach and communication towards society.

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