It is widely assumed that everyone is ‘interdisciplinary’ nowadays, that we all work in the intersections of specialised disciplines. But if being flexible, multi-skilled and polymathic are the prerequisites to survival in today’s world, why do educators and art marketeers still find it imperative to maintain conditions of production that advocate specialist forms? The aim of this new anthology in the Occasional Table series is to critically reflect upon the role of specialism in art and society and to understand better how the claim of those who seek to transcend the parameters of specialisation contrasts to others who maintain that deep levels of achievement can only be attained within highly focused methods and forms.