What Is Creativity?
I have delved into what subversion could mean. I have thus far concluded that subversion is subjective. I believe it is important to be personally subversive to be creative by being honest to yourself and the audience as well as being subversive in the way you produce work or think, forcing you to push your own personal boundaries.
But though all this I have neglected to look at what "creativity" actually is.
I can arrange the begging question as follows:
Gina Riley (2015) writes in her article on Creativity, "Creativity can be defined as the ability to generate novel ideas, as well as the ability to think in original ways. Creative individuals tend to see the “big picture,” and can find connections among things that others cannot see. It can also be defined as the ability to come up with a unique approach to create a new product, whether it is a piece of music, a poem, a work of art, or a scientific theory. Many researchers feel that creative people are divergent thinkers, or individuals who can generate many ideas quickly in response to a single prompt. For example, divergent thinkers may be quickly able to think of new and unique uses for everyday items such as a spoon, a brick, or a pencil. Convergent thinkers, on the other hand, use only knowledge and logic to answer prompts or questions. Another aspect of creativity may be what is known as cognitive complexity. Cognitive complexity is having a preference for elaborate, intricate, complex stimuli and thinking patterns. Creative people on the whole tend to have a wider range of interests as compared to non-creative individuals. They tend to be more interested in the philosophical, abstract, and outside the box ideas."
Riley (2015) writes in her conclusion, "It becomes clear that creativity is tied to divergent thinking and openness of mind. It is also an important element of problem solving, wellbeing, and academic as well as everyday life success."
I have also found this explanation from The Storm of Creativity (Leski, 2015, p.1):
With this in mind I set about searching for other links into this creative word. I came across the words "creative resistance" in an article entitled "When the creative class strikes back: State-led creativity and its discontents" by Jason D. Luger. This article focuses on Singapor and the idea of "implementing creativity". I may go back to this but I want to be more focused.
Creative Resistance
The search for creative resistance took me to a TEDx Talk "Creative resistance as activism: Jasmine Schlafke at TEDxSantaCruz". Jasmine Schlafke is a poet who became involved with a form a competitive poetry called Slam.
Schlafke defines herself as an activist. Her form of creativity is a way of speaking against oppressive structures in an honest way. She speaks about "creative resistance" which is about speaking up and resisting the current paradigm or system by means of a creative force. This is something she uses to fuel her creativity as a poet. I wouldn't say she is actively seeking to be subversive but because of her personal ideas regarding oppression, she is able to create work that serves to question societies structures in an honest way. This form of activism shows how subversion can develop creativity.
I found a couple of sites that showcase work with "creative resistance" in mind:
Creative Resistance: A Showcase for Activist Art here
and another group that has a more focused agenda, that of resisting the Trump agenda:
The Creative Resistance here
This all seems to be an obvious way to showing how subversion can aid creativity. I will now return to look at creativity its self. I want to go back to the The Storm of Creativity where Leski (2015, p.2) describes creativity metaphorically as a storm.
Storm's-eye View from kyna leski on Vimeo.
"Animated drawing of water in its turbulent (and generative) journey through a storm: a small disturbance of colliding molecules in a warm ocean, rising as vapor, condensing as cloud, releasing energy and fueling propulsion, giving way to gravity, and seeping into the ground. Drawings by Kyna Leski & Music by Forrest Larson. 2016."
Bibliography
Book
Leski, K. (2015). The Storm of Creativity. Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press.
Article
Riley, G. (2015). Creativity. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, 3.
Video
TEDx Talks. (2014, May 1). Creative resistance as activism: Jasmine Schlafke at TEDxSantaCruz [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_or5cchtmjg
But though all this I have neglected to look at what "creativity" actually is.
creativity
ˌkriːeɪˈtɪvɪti/
noun
- the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.
"firms are keen to encourage creativity"
synonyms: inventiveness, imagination, imaginativeness, innovation, innovativeness,
originality, individuality; More
I can arrange the begging question as follows:
In what ways can subversion develop the use of imagination or original ideas to create something in relation to practice?
Through talking to other practitioners as well as reflecting on my own work, I have looked into this question previously. For now I will step back into looking at creativity its self.
Gina Riley (2015) writes in her article on Creativity, "Creativity can be defined as the ability to generate novel ideas, as well as the ability to think in original ways. Creative individuals tend to see the “big picture,” and can find connections among things that others cannot see. It can also be defined as the ability to come up with a unique approach to create a new product, whether it is a piece of music, a poem, a work of art, or a scientific theory. Many researchers feel that creative people are divergent thinkers, or individuals who can generate many ideas quickly in response to a single prompt. For example, divergent thinkers may be quickly able to think of new and unique uses for everyday items such as a spoon, a brick, or a pencil. Convergent thinkers, on the other hand, use only knowledge and logic to answer prompts or questions. Another aspect of creativity may be what is known as cognitive complexity. Cognitive complexity is having a preference for elaborate, intricate, complex stimuli and thinking patterns. Creative people on the whole tend to have a wider range of interests as compared to non-creative individuals. They tend to be more interested in the philosophical, abstract, and outside the box ideas."
Riley (2015) writes in her conclusion, "It becomes clear that creativity is tied to divergent thinking and openness of mind. It is also an important element of problem solving, wellbeing, and academic as well as everyday life success."
I have also found this explanation from The Storm of Creativity (Leski, 2015, p.1):
With this in mind I set about searching for other links into this creative word. I came across the words "creative resistance" in an article entitled "When the creative class strikes back: State-led creativity and its discontents" by Jason D. Luger. This article focuses on Singapor and the idea of "implementing creativity". I may go back to this but I want to be more focused.
Creative Resistance
The search for creative resistance took me to a TEDx Talk "Creative resistance as activism: Jasmine Schlafke at TEDxSantaCruz". Jasmine Schlafke is a poet who became involved with a form a competitive poetry called Slam.
Schlafke defines herself as an activist. Her form of creativity is a way of speaking against oppressive structures in an honest way. She speaks about "creative resistance" which is about speaking up and resisting the current paradigm or system by means of a creative force. This is something she uses to fuel her creativity as a poet. I wouldn't say she is actively seeking to be subversive but because of her personal ideas regarding oppression, she is able to create work that serves to question societies structures in an honest way. This form of activism shows how subversion can develop creativity.
I found a couple of sites that showcase work with "creative resistance" in mind:
Creative Resistance: A Showcase for Activist Art here
Unknown Artist
and another group that has a more focused agenda, that of resisting the Trump agenda:
The Creative Resistance here
This all seems to be an obvious way to showing how subversion can aid creativity. I will now return to look at creativity its self. I want to go back to the The Storm of Creativity where Leski (2015, p.2) describes creativity metaphorically as a storm.
Quick sketch of what the process might look like.
Leski goes on to say that, like a storm, creativity can also change is scale and we can look at them with these varying sizes. He also points out that both can be contagious. Just as one storm nourishes another, so can the creativity of one person feed another's. The boundaries of both are also unclear, they are constantly changing and in motion. They are shaped by the conditions around them, just as a storm is changed by temperature, so creativity is transformed by it's content or forces surrounding it. From this other creative ideas and work can grow out of the initial.
He goes on to say that editing and production is also something that occurs in both the storm and the creative process (Leski, 2015, p.3). The momentum builds and fades, either being fueled or weakened at various stages. Along the way both constantly gather new material and by doing so start the creative process over again. Then come consequences which real and distinct. "They are found in the exchange that happens between the world, creator, and those with whom the creation interacts." (Leski, 2015, p.4). Consequence of the process follows which is most notably transformation. The consequence is the interaction between the viewer rather than the idea or work its self.
The chapter's of The Storm of Creativity are the creative process. This is them with some notes begging from Chapter 2:
Unlearning- open mind- unlearn. Need and awareness.
Problem Making- attentiveness to here and now. When you realize you don;t know, you have created a problem. Idea that moves you forward.
Gathering & Tracking- gather to fill open space once occupied by perception. Gathering = collecting, staging, field studies,foraging, research, sketching etc. - Acquiring.
Propelling- propelled by own action, fueled by gathering, directed by tracking. Gathering/ tracking- evolving, organic language (words, sound, etc.)
Perceiving & Conceiving- sensibility- take in info.- how you use that info. to form a concept. Surprise and joy- emotions in creative practice that confirm concept.
Seeing Ahead- Insight, intuition, imagination. Moving ahead without necessarily knowing where you are going. Comes from an intense focus on the present but gives views to what is coming and what has been. Seeing other perspectives.
Connecting- Everything is connected in some way. Creativity is making the existing connections visible. Vision is empowered by insight, intuition, imagination- trans-formative observations and thinking.
Pausing- Incubation. Fermentation. Mind wondering. Distraction. Giving up. starting again. Retreat into unconsciousness. Accept nothing and then something.
Continuing
Leski sums up by saying that "Wanting to know something that you don't know is the creative process." (2015, p.166).
what I'm thinking about creative subversion
I have found an animation of the representation of this creative storm by Kyna Leski.
Storm's-eye View from kyna leski on Vimeo.
"Animated drawing of water in its turbulent (and generative) journey through a storm: a small disturbance of colliding molecules in a warm ocean, rising as vapor, condensing as cloud, releasing energy and fueling propulsion, giving way to gravity, and seeping into the ground. Drawings by Kyna Leski & Music by Forrest Larson. 2016."
Bibliography
Book
Leski, K. (2015). The Storm of Creativity. Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press.
Article
Luger, J. (2017). When the creative class strikes back: State-led creativity and its discontents. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718517300994?
Riley, G. (2015). Creativity. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, 3.
Video
TEDx Talks. (2014, May 1). Creative resistance as activism: Jasmine Schlafke at TEDxSantaCruz [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_or5cchtmjg
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