The Production of Creativity
This project began in collaboration with Piotr Adamczyk, through a Banff New Media Institute Co-Production Residency in 2007. Working with the consultation of Sarat Maharaj, Anne Galloway and Andreas Broeckmann, Piotr and I framed the beginnings of an inquiry into how creativity is valued in art and science, especially in academic research settings associated with "New Media."
Our research initially took the form of a dialogue between the two of us, comparing and contrasting how creativity is lauded, critiqued, or utilized in the many fields we work within. From there we developed and conducted surveys, mapped word usage in publication, designed and printed discussion catalysts in the form of posters and pamphlets.
Our goal is to keep creativity contentious, especially where it serves an easy and vague form of capital or interdisciplinary "boundary object." We plan to continue this work through publication, presentation, and further design interventions. Upcoming presentations include talks at the 2009 symposium for the International Society for Electronic Arts in Dublin, and the 2009 ACM Creativity and Cognition conference.
Posted: January 5th, 2009 | Filed under: The Production of Creativity | 2 Comments »
A review:
How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Art Life Museum
by Keri Smith
Throughout creativity’s recent rebirth as an economic asset, I’ve watched the core concepts of my own fine arts education translated and mobilized for mass culture. Just as tattooing, punk rock and DIY culture have moved from the margins of consumerism to the center, so activities from the art professor’s bag of head-spinning tricks have become almost mandatory behavior for good citizens.
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Posted: October 7th, 2008 | Filed under: The Production of Creativity | 1 Comment »
Art can be anything, anywhere - so the freshmen of art schools around America are told. And over the past decade or so, we’ve seen marketers take it to heart. The mobilization of “creativity” toward the branding of cities as economically buoyant has extended far beyond the superficial and safe “cow parade” campaigns. I was surprised to see the more sophisticated (read: upper-class) methods reaching as far as my town. So I wrote a commentary for my local paper. Read it here.
Posted: December 6th, 2006 | Filed under: The Production of Creativity | No Comments »
Creativity Subsumed
Creativity has not been a major emphasis of art/design education for some time. Art Historian and educator Thierry Du Duve describes in the history of art teaching a shift in emphaisis from talent to creativity to attitude. The art academies of the 19th century depended on talent in their students, a predisposition or ability one was born with, and then honed through imitation of masters.
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