Intermedia is anart theory term coined in the mid-1960s byFluxus artistDick Higgins to describe the strategies ofinterdisciplinarity that occur within artworks existing between artistic genres.[1][2][3] It was also used byJohn Brockman to refer to works inexpanded cinema that were associated withJonas Mekas' Film-Makers’ Cinematheque.[4][5]Gene Youngblood also described intermedia, beginning in hisIntermedia column for theLos Angeles Free Press beginning in 1967 as a part of a global network of multiple media that was expandingconsciousness. Youngblood gathered and expanded upon intermedia ideas from this series of columns in his 1970 bookExpanded Cinema, with an introduction byBuckminster Fuller. Over the years, intermedia has been used almost interchangeably withmulti-media and more recently with the categories ofdigital media,technoetics,electronic media, andpost-conceptualism.
The areas such as those betweendrawing andpoetry, or betweenpainting andtheatre 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 ishaiga, which combined brush painting andhaiku into one composition.[6]
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[7] that had not previously been considered for art forms, including computers.
Part of the reason thatDuchamp's objects are fascinating whilePicasso'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 betweencollage andphotography, the GermanJohn 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 thatSamuel Taylor Coleridge had first used the term.[8]
In 1968,Hans Breder founded the first university program in the United States to offer an M.F.A. in intermedia. The Intermedia Area atThe University of Iowa graduated artists such asAna Mendieta andCharles Ray. In addition, the program developed a substantial visiting artist tradition, bringing artists such asDick Higgins,Vito Acconci,Allan Kaprow,Karen Finley,Robert Wilson,Eric Andersen and others to work directly with Intermedia students. Two other prominent University programs that focus on intermedia are the Intermedia program atArizona State University and the Intermedia M.F.A. at theUniversity of Maine, founded and directed byFluxus scholar and author Owen Smith. Additionally, the Roski School of Fine Arts at theUniversity of Southern California features Intermedia as an area of emphasis in their B.A. and B.F.A. programs. TheUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore County offers an M.F.A. in Intermedia andDigital Art.Concordia University inMontreal,QC offers a B.F.A. in Intermedia/Cyberarts.[9]Herron School of Art and Design,Indiana University,Purdue University, Indianapolis, has a M.F.A. Program withPhotography and Intermedia degrees.[10] TheUniversity of Oregon offers a Master of Music degree in IntermediaMusic Technology.[11] ThePacific Northwest College of Art offers a B.F.A. in Intermedia.[12]
In theUnited Kingdom,Edinburgh College of Art (within theUniversity of Edinburgh) introduced a BA (Hons) Degree in Intermedia Arts, and intermedia can be a focus of study in Masters programmes.[13] The Academy of Fine Arts [AVU] inPrague offers a Masters in Intermedia Studies founded byMilan Knížák[14] and TheHungarian University of Fine Arts has an Intermedia Program.[15]
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