Triple I: Investigating Interdisciplinary Informality, 3-4 Oct. 2017

Saturday October 7th 2017 by Peter Thomas Lang

INVESTIGATING INTERDISCIPLINARY INFORMALITY Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm, 3–4 October 2017

This two day meeting organised by Frederick Whitling and David Horan brought together an usual mix of scholars and professionals from a very wide range of backgrounds, from archaeology to soundtrack composers..
I was asked to mediate the second day discussion sessions in which 5 smaller groups of participants would meet 30 minutes with one of the 5 moderators to discuss a particular theme.
My Theme was “Who Rewards Interdisciplinary, and where is it located?”
I introduced my work on Dante and Brunelleschi on the invention of perspective, a study that was produced from an inter-disciplinary course I attended while doing my PhD studies at NYU. John Freccero, one of the most prominent Dante specialists, created this course in recognition of Dante’s impressive knowledge on the sciences, including optics, and astronomy. I presented interdisciplinarity as tool to formulate ideas, that could then in turn become concrete solutions.
TUESDAY 3 OCTOBER
09.00 Frederick Whitling (Rome/Stockholm, Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien, history) and David Horan
(University College Dublin/Dublin City University, economics): Introduction, with brief
individual presentations
09.45 Per Krakau (Stockholm, clinical psychologist): Opening mingling group exercise
10.00 Patrick Paul Walsh (School of Politics and International Relations and the Geary Institute for
Public Policy, Dublin/director of the University College Dublin Centre for Sustainable
Development Studies): UN multistakeholder processes
10.30 Richard Holmgren (Skänninge, ARCDOC, classical archaeologist): Collecting the past –
interdisciplinarity and museum collections 11.00 Coffee break
11.30 Thordis Arrhenius (Linköping University, cultural heritage, department of social change and culture) and Marie Kraft (Rome/Paris, architect): Participatory processes in urban studies and cultural activities
12.00 Bernhard Struck (University of St Andrews, Institute for Transnational and Spatial History): Organisation of interdisciplinary research, opportunities and challenges
12.30 David Horan: Examples of interdisciplinary collaboration in economics and moral philosophy 13.00 Marcello Barbanera (“La Sapienza” University of Rome, classical archaeology): Inventing the
artist 13.30 Lunch
14.30 Frederick Whitling: Overview of Triple-I activities during the first year in Rome
15.00 Camilla Annerfeldt and Victoria Witkowski (European University Institute, history): Joint
presentation on Triple-I text discussions in relation to ongoing PhD thesis work
15.30 Break, accompanied by a short presentation by Anders Ehlin (Berlin, composer/sound artist) of
work excerpts, including his Triple-I soundscape installation (2016), in the café area
16.00 Michael Grieve (Berlin Foto Kiez, creative director and photographer): Exhibition presentation
(Termini, Rome, 2017), linking to Triple-I presentation and discussion
16.30 John S. Webb (Malmö, photographer): The interdisciplinarity of photography
17.00 Concluding remarks: Introduction to group discussions (Per Krakau), and to group themes 17.30 Drink in museum bar
20.00 Dinner in restaurant
WEDNESDAY 4 OCTOBER
09.00 Introduction and organisation of group discussions
09.15 Focused group discussions (1): Group stations (1–6), with moderators 09.30 Focused group discussions (2): Group stations, with moderators 10.00 Focused group discussions (3): Group stations, with moderators 10.30 Focused group discussions (4): Group stations, with moderators 11.00 Coffee break
11.30 Focused group discussions (5): Group stations, with moderators 12.00 Brief evaluation of group discussions
12.15 Final break
12.30 Concluding panel discussion (moderator: Frederick Whitling)
13.30 End, with lunch in town at 14.00
GROUP DISCUSSION MODERATORS (4 OCTOBER)
Group 1. Ingrid Berg (Stockholm University, archaeology): The influence of sociocultural context and materiality on research
Group 2. Edith Söderström (Stockholm, writer and musician): The potential of text discussions and other cross-boundary feedback techniques for initiating and inspiring interdisciplinary work
Group 3. Liam Cagney (Berlin and Paris, writer and musician): Scholar-artist interactions and visualisation of cross-disciplinary work
Group 4. Susanna Whitling (Lund University, speech therapist): Border crossings and points of contact for collaborative work between the humanities and social sciences
Group 5. Peter Lang (Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Research-Lab): Who rewards interdisciplinarity, and where is it located?
Group 6. David Horan (Dublin, economics): Possible future challenges, organisation and focus areas in interdisciplinary work
DOCUMENTATION
Henrik Larsson (Stockholm, landscape- and sound architect): Recording (concluding panel discussion)