Where creativity is in fashion

[imomus]

"If we consider the 1960s a decade during which creativity was more fashionable than ever before or since—seeming to concern the layman viewers of the Ed Sullivan show as much as professionals in the "creative industries"—it's because of a shock America received in 1957: the Sputnik shock."

Creativity and the Sputnik Shock is my latest column for AIGA Voice. It's really about the "Creativity Literature" that I grew up on, research published in the 1950s and 60s by psychologists like J.P.Guilford. I used to check this stuff out of the library when I felt low and wounded at university, and skim-read it while listening to the John Peel show. Even if some art school girl had just rejected me, I felt like this research validated me as a person. Most of the papers focused on "the creative personality", a type I identified with strongly. They also focused on teaching and optimizing creativity. Maybe if I did enough optimizing I could one day appear on the Peel Show myself! And girls would never reject me again! That was my "ulterior motive", but only later did I realize that the researchers and readers of these academic papers had their own wound and their own ulterior motive. The wound was Sputnik, and the motive was the desire to beat the Soviets in the Space Race (and, for the psychologists involved, to touch big green stacks of government money earmarked for defense-related projects).



Speaking of columns, this might be a good time to announce that I'll be contributing a bi-monthly column to Wired News starting next Tuesday. Since I'm heading off to Edinburgh later today to see my family and experience ten days of uncurated chaos at the world's largest Arts Festival, the first Wired column will probably be about Edinburgh in August — a time and place, like America in the 60s, where creativity is in fashion.

Comments

[queersolitude.livejournal.com]

congrads!

[(Anonymous)]

Excellent stuff. I agree, I never liked the notion that the actual creative raw material is negative (fears, neuroses, the rejected teen, the stand-up as bathroom depressive). It gives a squeeze towards getting creative, but the juice always springs from the positive, in hope.

[georgesdelatour.livejournal.com]

Excellent news.

Positivity yes
Have u had your plus sign 2 day?

A shameless plug

[thetemplekeeper.livejournal.com]

For all of you in Dear Old Albion eager to see the spark of pure creativity in action, the Old Red Lion theatre in London will be staging Russian National Mail by Oleg Bogaev from 23 August to 10 September; this site (http://www.sputniktheatre.co.uk/)has the details. Theatre, art, Russian and Sputnik all in one: I'm proud of my scoop!

Simon

[cerulicante.livejournal.com]

You didn't mention Japan!



Are you feeling OK?

nothing brings folks together like a moon-landing

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

K the Frog knows where it's at.

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

http://www.skyemastering.com/joemeek.jpg

[anglerfish96.livejournal.com]

Joe Meek was amazing!

[spaglet.livejournal.com]

Your article didn't so much feel like an article as the beginning of a book, or at least something much longer than itself... Fascinating, but a let down.

[markii187.livejournal.com]

Congratulations..

sound recordings

[viktorsjoberg.livejournal.com]

excuse the off topic, this would be the easiest way to contact you.

you liked my sound recordings a while back, as i remember it. this is the expanded version of the same thoughts:

http://elefanten.blogspot.com/

thanks for reading.