Beyond the Theory-Practice Divide: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Methods for Research and Scholarship in Art and Art History

Research in art and art history has traditionally been divided among professional roles—artist, historian, curator, critic, archivist, and others—often working within distinct institutional and methodological frameworks. Increasingly, however, researchers embrace interdisciplinary methodologies, drawing from multiple fields to shape their scholarship. This shift prompts us to consider the intellectual, institutional, and political conditions that enable or constrain such methodological expansion, and to reflect on how these evolving frameworks might reshape our understanding of disciplinary boundaries, expertise, and knowledge production. These integrative approaches often destabilize the traditional divisions between theory and practice, historical inquiry and creative production, and institutionalized research and experimental methodologies.

This panel seeks to explore how hybrid research practices foster methodologies for studying art and art history, broadening the scope of research and scholarship in the field. How do these innovative practices challenge conventional scholarship, reshaping the ways we produce, present, and circulate research? What innovative methodologies emerge when art research draws from interdisciplinary knowledge and hybrid professional roles? We invite papers that critically examine both the challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinary research, considering how expanded methodologies transform our understanding of art and its histories.

Perspectives and methods of interest include, but are not limited to: decolonial, feminist, trans and queer theory; disability studies; geographically situated and area studies; practice, studio-based and artistic knowledge production including curatorial practice; perspectives on hybrid professional roles in the field (e.g. artist-curator, scholar practitioner); digital humanities and quantitative approaches; critical knowledge organization; and interdisciplinary methods from the natural and social sciences.