Creativity and Context

In a previous post I explained the value of sparking the brain’s natural tendency to create by asking it questions.  This week I want to share with you a specific question that is almost always worth asking and I have included some videos that beautifully demonstrate the amazing results of asking it.  The question is based on context.  What ever it is you’re developing or working on ask yourself the question: “What if this were in a completely new or different context?”.

The following video gained world wide recognition.  Music and choreographed dance was performed in a new and different context.  Rather than on a stage in the usual theater setting, they performed in the middle of Liverpool Street Station.  Notice the completely new ways people experience the dancing because of it’s unique context.  To date this video has been viewed over twenty four million times and has led to many similar performances.



The Opera Company of Philadelphia decided to share their music in a similar way with “Random Acts of Culture” (the Knight Foundation’s "national initiative to bring the classics out of the performance halls and onto the streets").  Their performance connects with people in a new and profoundly different way.  Again, like the dance in Liverpool Street Station, videos of the performance are shared online by millions of people around the world.  Millions of people who may never have considered buying a ticket to an opera felt enough connection to this performance to share it via YouTube with a friend or family member.  This is the kind of impact you can have by asking the question “What about context could be different or new?”



The famous Installation artist Robert Irwin in his book “Robert Irwin" (by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles) shares a thoughtful breakthrough he experienced as a young artist. 

Robert Irwin, 1971                                            His Walker Installation                    .

He had been a painter working within the confines of rectangular frames.  Irwin felt that they had “arrived at a point where they had a choice to make: whether to confine themselves to a frame, or break that."  He broke out of the rectangular frame and began his light and space explorations.  These led to numerous installations and lectures that have influenced countless artists and designers over the years.  His questions regarding the common and accepted context of paintings and art have led to an amazing body of work that has continued to develop for over forty years.  He was even invited by NASA in 1969 to work with a symposium on space design and habitability for long term space travel.

Robert Irwin • Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow & Blue? • 2006 • The Pace Gallery, New York

Questions work, and the question of context is a great one.  Add a number of these questions considering context to your next brain sparking list and enjoy where your imagination takes you.

          In a nut shell

   1-Consider questions of new and different context
   2-Think of how it changes everything
   3-Go with your imagination

Robert Irwin, 2009

Quote
Robert Irwin

“I tried to paint a painting that didn’t begin and end at the edge.  It broke the frame.”