The excitement generated by enigmas (like jigsaw and crossword puzzles) seems to inspire creativity.
The Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci, 1492
During Antiquity human proportions were used to determine the dimensions of sculptures and monuments. This practice re-emerged in the Renaissance and is still in use. The circle and the square in which The Vitruvian Man is inscribed symbolize, respectively, the cosmos and the earth—analogies of the macro and micro cosmos, with man at the center of the universe.
Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
Fragments of an Archetype, Catherine Ikam, 1980
This monumental sculpture was one of a series of installations. Composed of sixteen video monitors, it was placed inside a huge neon circle.
Installation view at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1980
The Anatomical Angel, Jacques Gautier d’Agoty, eighteenth century
Artists, like scientists, use visualization methods. Inspired by Newton’s Optics, Jacob Christophe le Blon invented a technique (1710) for color engraving based on the combination of the three primary colors: yellow, red and blue. Through a purely mental exercise, these would be mixed to produce the range of colors being represented.
Color mezzotint
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
When a concept no longer holds up under critical scrutiny, analysis of its failings can point to the necessary changes. Any new concept constitutes a challenge to the existing ones, which must be surpassed. Fundamental changes rarely occur in a flash, but tend to evolve as the problems are being solved, one after another.
To search … up to what point? According to the physicist Pauli: “The happiness that man feels in understanding seems to be based on inner images pre-existent in the human psyche with the external objects and their behavior.” While Braque noted that: “The painting is finished when it has erased the idea.”
According to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit paleontologist: “The spirit of research and conquest is the supreme essence of evolution. It penetrates all those who have ever dedicated their intelligence and their lives to art or science.”
Electromagnetic field lines, James Clerk Maxwell, 1871
The physicist Maxwell visualized the concept of an electrical field, graphically, using “experimental lines of forces on paper.” This notion of a space capable of transmitting radiation emerged along with progress in electricity and magnetism. Fascinated by optical phenomena, Maxwell was also an important player in the development of photography, and produced the first color photograph.
Education and new technologies
Nowadays, specializing has become inevitable, but over-specializing destroys creativity, which thrives on open-mindedness. Play remains a primary form of learning, whatever the age.
Goethe and Edison never had a formal education. Einstein and Picasso opposed the traditional school system, and other creators ignored academic training. It is thus tempting to assume that having no constraints provides a better chance of approaching the world creatively. However, the value of a formative but flexible training can never be understated.
By expanding education beyond its traditional segmentation, it is being redefined. Psychologists suggest the existence of transversal forms of intelligence: spatial, social, verbal, etc., which would go beyond the set bounds of artistic or scientific concerns.
Will researchers identify “creativity genes”? Creativity is surely not entirely determined by genetic heritage; in many ways, the social and cultural environment remains a key factor. Artists, like scientists, are increasingly drawn into multidisciplinary activities because of economic pressure, and sometimes by choice.
Convergence is particularly strong during times of change, such as the present. Art and science use the same tools and materials; technology then becomes their main link. (Technology is a recent term denoting the industrial applications of science.) According to Marshall McLuhan, the visionary media specialist, “The medium is the message.”
View of an installation by Joseph Beuys
The German artist Beuys proclaimed that “everybody is an artist” and everything is art, including political and social processes. He used the most ordinary objects and materials in his performances, and displayed didactic skills to expound on his philosophy for a new democracy.
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Virtual Museum, Jeffrey Shaw, 1991
Inside this interactive work of art, one can explore different rooms of an imaginary museum containing paintings, sculptures and computer-designed images.
In a computerized and digitalized world, the spectator becomes a permanent student—whether willingly or not. The writer Arthur Koestler felt that: “Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are located in the same individual.” “Creativity,” “education,” “entertainment” are now intricately woven concepts because new technologies favor the relationship between artist, creation and spectator.
This link is considerably reinforced through modern means of communication, potentially transforming the social order altogether. Of course, technology will not bring all the answers. But, thanks to new media, it is indeed conceivable that everyone has a creative potential that can be explored, in art and science, or any other domain.
Orb, Bill Parker, 1990
Work of art, gadget or scientific tool? This glass sphere containing a combination of rare gases, reacts to heat when touched, by emitting light through an electrode at its center. To observe, play and learn was this creator’s intention.
2. A dynamic history
Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier and His Wife, Jacques Louis David, 1788
Lavoisier was the father of the chemical revolution. His wife was an artist who studied with David, painter of the above portrait. She also illustrated Lavoisier’s laboratory notes and translated English scientific papers.
Metropolitan
