Creative Planets (Modalities of Art) Collide: The Big Bang of 1960s Multimedia Art
Teachers College-Columbia University, New York, New York, 2017 
By: Marisol Santana
Approved by the Committee on
the Degree of Doctor of Education

Abstract: 
The aim of this study is to bring more awareness to the interdisciplinary
processes of multimedia artists and their collaborative works within the sociocultural
context of the 1960s in New York City. By portraying this historical period of total
theatre and the emergence of multimedia, artists and educators can tap into this well of
recollections, reflections, and ideas on interdisciplinary approaches to art-making from
the perspectives of artists who have integrated music, dance, film, visual art, and/or
theatre into their creative work.

In this study, four renowned multimedia artists of the 1960s who represent a
“total theatre” discipline were interviewed: Judith Malina for theatre directing and
writing; Rolando Peña for dance, visual and performance art; Meredith Monk for
musical performance, composition, dance, and filmmaking; and Jonas Mekas for
filmmaking and writing. Collaborative and interdisciplinary creative processes are
explored which may inform contemporary art-making, explain how interdisciplinary
arts are perceived and understood, and suggest how they can be integrated into
education today.

An extensive literature review is included to demonstrate how the historical
emergence of total theatre from the time of Wagner up until the 1960s has influenced
multimedia and avant-garde art as collectives such as The Living Theatre, the Fluxus
groups, Andy Warhol’s Factory, and others.