Observing representational practices in art and anthropology – a transdisciplinary approach
Abstract
It has been suggested that anthropology operates in “liminal spaces” which can be defined as
“spaces between disciplines”. This study will explore the space where the fields of art and
anthropology meet in order to discover the epistemological and representational challenges
that arise from this encounter. The common ground on which art and anthropology engage
can be defined in terms of their observational and knowledge producing practices. Both art
and anthropology rely on observational skills and varying forms of visual literacy to collect
and represent data. Anthropologists represent their data mostly in written form by means of
ethnographic accounts, and artists represent their findings by means of imaginative artistic
mediums such as painting, sculpture, filmmaking and music.
Departing from a paradigm that acknowledges the importance of transdisciplinary enquiry,
the paper proposes a position suggesting that by combining observational and knowledge
producing practices, both anthropology and art can overcome the limits that are inherent in
their representational practices. The paper will explore how insights from complexity theory
offer the necessary conceptual tools with which anthropology and art can work together in
offering solutions to problems of presentation that emerge when dealing with complex
issues.