Bard Graduate Center; The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design; and the Museum of Arts and Design are pleased to announce the symposium, “Shared Ground: Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Craft Studies.” This event will take place September 20–22, 2018 at Bard Graduate Center and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Proposals from researchers across disciplines will be accepted through March 1, 2018.

The “material turn” in the humanities has brought increased attention to the study of craft in art and design history, decorative arts and material culture studies, as well as other disciplines, such as anthropology and science and technology studies. Institutions are combining academic traditions of the humanities and social sciences with “learning by doing” pedagogy and the influence of global studies has led scholars to research, understand, and contextualize craft outside of the studio craft or the arts and craft movements. Beyond the humanities and social sciences, fields ranging from architecture and urban planning to engineering and computer science have begun to explore the craft-like nature and implications of their research and professional practice.

Craft studies is at a critical moment as more disciplines turn their research towards craft and more scholars expand the geographic and temporal boundaries of the field. The 2018 Shared Ground symposium will explore cross-disciplinary approaches to craft studies, with an eye towards intersecting and divergent theories, methodologies, and approaches in this emerging area of study.

Shared Ground is co-organized by Marilyn Zapf, Assistant Director and Curator at the Center for Craft in Asheville, North Carolina; Associate Professor Catherine Whalen at Bard Graduate Center; and Elissa Author, Windgate Research and Collections Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design. Zapf comments, “As more scholars begin to study of craft, it is important to take stock of why craft matters and what it can reveal about our cultural histories.” Whalen remarks, “we are excited to bring together practitioners whose work is new to one another and see what kinds of intellectual confluences and debates emerge.” Auther notes, “The Museum of Arts and Design plays a pivotal role in pushing the field of craft forward. We are delighted to be able to partner with the Bard Graduate Center and the Center for Craft in this endeavor.”

Members of the Shared Ground working group are also contributing their expertise to the symposium’s planning. Hailing from multiple disciplines and possessing diverse research interests, they exemplifying the breadth of approaches and topics that the event organizers seek to encompass.

—Adrienne L. Childs, independent scholar, writes about the relationship between race and representation in European and American fine and decorative arts.
—Alicia Ory DeNicola, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Oxford College of Emory University, explores how ideas about art and craft shape cultural and individual identity using ethnographic methods.
—Steven J. Jackson, Associate Professor of Information Science and Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University, studies human-computer interaction, technology policy, and global development.
—Mahmoud Keshavarz, Postdoctoral Researcher in Cultural Anthropology at Uppsala University, Sweden, focuses on the politics of design, craft, migration, and decolonization.
—Namita Gupta Wiggers, Director of Master of Arts in Craft Studies,Warren Wilson College.

For additional information, updates, and to submit a proposal, please visit the symposium website: cccdnow.org/sharedground