Editing Intermedia

{{Short description|Interdisciplinary art activities occurring between genres}}
{{Other uses}}

'''Intermedia''' is an [[art theory]] term coined in the mid-1960s by [[Fluxus]] artist [[Dick Higgins]] to describe the strategies of [[interdisciplinarity]] that occur within artworks existing between artistic genres.<ref>[https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/leonardo/v034/34.1higgins.pdf Dick Higgins, ''Intermedia'', re-published in ''Leonardo'', vol 34, 2001, p49 - 54, with an Appendix by Hannah Higgins]</ref><ref>[[Hannah B. Higgins]], "The Computational Word Works of [[Eric Andersen (artist)|Eric Andersen]] and [[Dick Higgins]]" in H. Higgins, & D. Kahn (eds), ''Mainframe experimentalism: Early digital computing in the experimental arts'', p. 283.</ref><ref>Friedman, Ken 2018. "Thinking About Dick Higgins", ''Fluxus, Intermedia, and the Something Else Press. Selected Writings by Dick Higgins''. Steve Clay & Ken Friedman, eds., pp. 13-14.</ref> It was also used by [[John Brockman (literary agent)|John Brockman]] to refer to works in [[expanded cinema]] that were associated with [[Jonas Mekas]]' Film-Makers’ Cinematheque.<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Brockman {{!}} Edge.org|url=https://www.edge.org/memberbio/john_brockman|access-date=2020-11-19|website=www.edge.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>[[Jonas Mekas]], “On the Plastic Inevitables and the Strobe Light (May 26, 1966),” in ''Movie Journal: The Rise of the New American Cinema, 1959–1971'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), 249–250.</ref> [[Gene Youngblood]] also described intermedia, beginning in his ''Intermedia'' column for the [[Los Angeles Free Press]] beginning in 1967 as a part of a global network of multiple media that was expanding [[consciousness]]. Youngblood gathered and expanded upon intermedia ideas from this series of columns in his 1970 book ''[[Expanded Cinema]]'', with an introduction by [[Buckminster Fuller]]. Over the years, intermedia has been used almost interchangeably with [[multi-media]] and more recently with the categories of [[digital media]], [[technoetics]], [[electronic media]] and [[post-conceptualism]].  

==Characteristics==

The areas such as those between [[drawing]] and [[poetry]], or between [[painting]] and [[theatre]] could be described as intermedia. With repeated occurrences, these new genres between genres could develop their own names (e.g. [[visual poetry]], [[performance art]]); historically, an example is [[haiga]], which combined brush painting and [[haiku]] into one composition.<ref>''Classic Haiku'' ed. [[Tom Lowenstein]], London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 2007, {{ISBN|9781844834860}}.</ref>

[[Dick Higgins]] described the tendency of what he thought was the most interesting and best in the new art to cross boundaries of recognized media or even to fuse the boundaries of art with media<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artpool.hu/Fluxus/Higgins/intermedia2.html|author=Higgins, Dick|title=Statement on Intermedia|website=Artpool|publisher=[[Something Else Press]]|location=New York|year=1967}}</ref> that had not previously been considered for art forms, including computers.

{{blockquote|Part of the reason that [[Duchamp]]'s objects are fascinating while [[Picasso]]'s voice is fading is that the Duchamp pieces are truly between media, between sculpture and something else, while a Picasso is readily classifiable as a painted ornament. Similarly, by invading the land between [[collage]] and [[photography]], the German [[John Heartfield]] produced what are probably the greatest graphics of our century ...|Higgins|''Intermedia'', 1965, ''Leonardo'', vol. 34, No. 1, p. 49}}

With characteristic modesty, [[Dick Higgins]] often noted that [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] had first used the term.<ref>Coleridge, Samuel 'Lecture 111 : On Spenser'</ref>

==Academia==

In 1968, [[Hans Breder]] founded the first university program in the United States to offer an M.F.A. in intermedia. The Intermedia Area at [[The University of Iowa]] graduated artists such as [[Ana Mendieta]] and [[Charles Ray (artist)|Charles Ray]]. In addition, the program developed a substantial visiting artist tradition, bringing artists such as [[Dick Higgins]], [[Vito Acconci]], [[Allan Kaprow]], [[Karen Finley]], [[Robert Wilson (dramatist)|Robert Wilson]], [[Eric Andersen (artist)|Eric Andersen]] and others to work directly with Intermedia students. Two other prominent University programs that focus on intermedia are the Intermedia program at [[Arizona State University]] and the Intermedia M.F.A. at the [[University of Maine]], founded and directed by [[Fluxus]] scholar and author Owen Smith. Additionally, the Roski School of Fine Arts at the [[University of Southern California]] features Intermedia as an area of emphasis in their B.A. and B.F.A. programs. The [[University of Maryland, Baltimore County]] offers an M.F.A. in Intermedia and [[Digital Art]]. [[Concordia University (Quebec)|Concordia University]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec|QC]] offers a B.F.A. in Intermedia/Cyberarts.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://studio-arts.concordia.ca/undergraduate-programs/intermediacyberarts/ | title=Programs }}</ref> [[Herron School of Art and Design]], [[Indiana University]], [[Purdue University]], Indianapolis, has a M.F.A. Program with [[Photography]] and Intermedia degrees.<ref>[https://archive.today/20131019164542/http://www.herron.iupui.edu/visualart/photography-intermedia Intermedia]</ref> The [[University of Oregon]] offers a Master of Music degree in Intermedia [[Music Technology]].<ref>[http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~fmo/master/ Master of Music in Intermedia Music Technology]</ref> The [[Pacific Northwest College of Art]] offers a B.F.A. in Intermedia.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://pnca.edu/academics/bfa/intermedia | title=Pacific Northwest College of Art }}</ref>

In the [[United Kingdom]], [[Edinburgh College of Art]] (within the [[University of Edinburgh]]) introduced a BA (Hons) Degree in Intermedia Arts, and intermedia can be a focus of study in Masters programmes.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/school-of-art/undergraduate/intermedia-ba-hons | title=Fine Art - BA (Hons) &#124; Edinburgh College of Art }}</ref> The Academy of Fine Arts [AVU] in [[Prague]] offers a Masters in Intermedia Studies founded by [[Milan Knížák]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.avu.cz/eng/study | title=Art in Context }}</ref> and The [[Hungarian University of Fine Arts]] has an Intermedia Program.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mke.hu/en/node/33653 | title=Intermedia Department &#124; MKE }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Technoetics]]
*[[Fluxus]]
*[[Multimedia]]
*[[New media art]]
*[[Non-linear media]]
*[[Neo-Dada]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
*Owen Smith (1998), [https://www.amazon.com/dp/1879691515 ''Fluxus: The History of an Attitude''], San Diego State University Press
*[[Hannah B. Higgins]], "The Computational Word Works of [[Eric Andersen (artist)|Eric Andersen]] and [[Dick Higgins]]" in H. Higgins, & D. Kahn (eds), ''Mainframe experimentalism: Early digital computing in the experimental arts''. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (2013).
*Ina Blom, ''The Intermedia Dynamic: An Aspect of Fluxus'' (PhD diss., University of Oslo, 1993).
*Natilee Harren, "The Crux of Fluxus: Intermedia, Rear-guard," in [http://walkerart.org/collections/publications/art-expanded/crux-of-fluxus ''Art Expanded, 1958-1978''], edited by Eric Crosby with Liz Glass. Vol. 2 of ''Living Collections Catalogue''. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2015.
*[[Jonas Mekas]], “On the Plastic Inevitables and the Strobe Light (May 26, 1966),” in ''Movie Journal: The Rise of the New American Cinema, 1959–1971'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), 249–250.

{{Fluxus}}
{{Western art movements}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1960s neologisms]]
[[Category:Contemporary art]]
[[Category:Visual music]]
[[Category:American art]]
[[Category:Conceptual art]]
[[Category:Fluxus]]
[[Category:Multimedia]]