Cognitive psychologist Mark A. Runco is a leading creativity researcher whose empirical work focuses on idea generation and divergent thinking. Nearly 30 years ago, he founded the Creativity Research Journal, which he still edits, and in 2014, he founded the new journal Business Creativity and the Creative Economy. He co-edited the Encyclopedia of Creativity in 1999 and 2011. In this exclusive interview he discusses creativity and metaphorical thinking.
“Human creativity is something of a mystery, not to say a paradox. One new idea may be creative, while another is merely new. What’s the difference? And how is creativity possible? Creative ideas are unpredictable. Sometimes, they even seem to be impossible — and yet they happen. How can that be explained? Could a scientific psychology help us to understand how creativity is possible?”
When ‘The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms’ was first published, Margaret A. Boden’s bold and provocative exploration of creativity broke new ground. In this book she uses examples such as jazz improvisation, chess, story writing, physics, and the music of Mozart, together with computing models from the field of artificial intelligence to uncover the nature of human creativity in the arts.
This article formed the introduction to the book and is republished for the Interalia Magazine with the kind permission of Margaret A. Boden.
Jasmine Pradissitto describes herself as “a practising Quantum Artist and Creativity Warrior”, a “painter who sculpts with light and colour using the scientific knowledge accumulated over years of experience”. In this exclusive article, she discusses her work and her thoughts on the creative process, on the role of metaphors and how to communicate them, combining a lifetime of being both a physicist and an artist, with teaching skills gained during her 19 years as Director of Proeducation Ltd.
In his important book, ‘Colliding Worlds: How Cutting-Edge Science is Redefining Contemporary Art’ (published in 2014), Arthur I Miller discusses the ‘fusion’ of art and science, telling the story of how artists, scientists and technologists are working together to create a new art movement, which he calls ‘artsci’. In this exclusive interview he discusses ideas that will be the subject of his forthcoming book, exploring creativity and metaphor in art and science – “I have always believed that creativity can be unravelled…..”
Silvia Krupinska is a process-based artist/sculptor focusing on how we relate to water environments, taking her inspiration from natural textures and experiences. She explores the element of ‘usefulness’ in her work by trying to understand our daily lives, our local surroundings and how we can affect the change, for better or for worse. She has been investigating how art and science can work together in interdisciplinary collaborations with London Wildlife Trust, Hydrocitizenship, Thames21, and Dr Richard Bater.
Drew Berry is a biomedical animator at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. His scientifically accurate and aesthetically rich visualizations are elucidating cellular and molecular processes for a wide range of audiences. His animations have been shown in exhibitions, multimedia programs and television shows, and have received international recognition including an Emmy (2005) and a BAFTA Award (2004).
Eric Heller is a Professor of Chemistry and Physics at Harvard University, known for his work on time dependent quantum mechanics. In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Heller is also a practicing artist who has worked with a variety of media including photography and landscape painting. He is best known for digital renderings based on the results of his physics research. In this article he shows some of his artwork, as well as giving an exclusive interview with David Glowacki.
Richard Feynman describes the movement of atoms in a fantastically simple way.
Prof. Richard Feynman describes the movement of atoms in a fantastically simple way. He explains a bouncing ball with such enthusiasm and excitement as a lesson that science is about the joy of imagining things. Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing and introducing the concept of nanotechnology. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time.
David Glowacki discusses molecular vibration using danceroom Spectroscopy (dS). Fusing 3d imaging and rigorous molecular physics, dS transforms people into energy fields and lets them wander through the nano-quantum world, where they trigger sounds and images.