Creativity and the evolvement of culture. The altering capacity of art works, paper presentation, Lisbon, 26-29 June.
(2012) Language Culture Mind 2012- Abstract
- Title:
Creativity and the evolvement of culture. The altering capacity of art works.
Creativity, in the sense finding original solutions to life world problems, can be seen as the principal force of cognitive and communicational genesis, such as when new verbal language elements occur (Heine/Kuteva 2007). Creativity has been defined as the original act that not only makes a radical “revision of a concept” but also causes a “change of the rules” by which a discipline orients itself (Sahlin XXXX). However, focusing on concepts and rules runs a risk of restricting creativity to actions that refine the particular discipline that “owns” these concepts and rules. In a broader perspective of human development, creativity should... (More) - Title:
Creativity and the evolvement of culture. The altering capacity of art works.
Creativity, in the sense finding original solutions to life world problems, can be seen as the principal force of cognitive and communicational genesis, such as when new verbal language elements occur (Heine/Kuteva 2007). Creativity has been defined as the original act that not only makes a radical “revision of a concept” but also causes a “change of the rules” by which a discipline orients itself (Sahlin XXXX). However, focusing on concepts and rules runs a risk of restricting creativity to actions that refine the particular discipline that “owns” these concepts and rules. In a broader perspective of human development, creativity should rather be seen as a radical force in the reorientation of cultivation.
Artistic activity is often taken for granted as a creative domain, this despite the fact that much art, and much artistic intention, is not necessarily aspiring to make any radical change of the circumstances in which it is communicated. Still, the role of art in societies can be claimed to be of importance for human development. Art, of which decorative art is only a sub-category, may historically, and indeed in several archaeological and anthropological perspectives, be seen as a projection surface for the self-conceiving of a culture. And, in recent perspectives of shared cognitive resources, contemporary art may be considered as a generative part of the self-definition of individuals as well as communities (Brinck 200X). Art has even been described as “a major factor in evolving the cognitive domains in the long history of the human species” (Donald 2006), and in this perspective art is to be regarded as an important part in evolutionary change, a trigger that apart from belonging in the (later) theoretic stage involves also the more basic (earlier) cognitive domains of the mimetic and mythic stages (Donald 2006).
If art in general has these evolutionary and extensional qualities, what then could we say about the metacognitive, self-questioning agency of critical art, sometimes labelled “institutional critique”, i.e art that beyond depiction or beauty aims at exposing the fundaments upon which it itself is collected, maintained, symbolized, economized? Through examples from contemporary art, it will here be discussed if creativity – in order to distinguish it from problem-solving, refinement of discipline, or (in the other end) mere destruction – is best understood as an open-ended intention that alters the comprehension of its context.
The perspectival ability to achieve “dissensus rather than consensus” (Ranciere 200X), or the semiotic capacity to distinguish comprehensions of culture, extra-culture and non-culture (Sonesson 200X) can be seen as ingredients, or even “requirements”, of such cultural critique displaying awareness of, or suggestions to cultural alteration.
Key words: creativity, originality, context
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2eedf64b-3aed-4ff1-b6d7-f4f1c77b21f1
- author
- Sandin, Gunnar LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- kreativitet, evolution
- conference name
- Language Culture Mind 2012
- conference location
- Lisbon, Portugal
- conference dates
- 2012-06-27 - 2012-06-29
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 2eedf64b-3aed-4ff1-b6d7-f4f1c77b21f1
- date added to LUP
- 2017-03-16 20:07:48
- date last changed
- 2021-05-26 11:15:00
@misc{2eedf64b-3aed-4ff1-b6d7-f4f1c77b21f1,
abstract = {{Title:<br/>Creativity and the evolvement of culture. The altering capacity of art works.<br/><br/>Creativity, in the sense finding original solutions to life world problems, can be seen as the principal force of cognitive and communicational genesis, such as when new verbal language elements occur (Heine/Kuteva 2007). Creativity has been defined as the original act that not only makes a radical “revision of a concept” but also causes a “change of the rules” by which a discipline orients itself (Sahlin XXXX). However, focusing on concepts and rules runs a risk of restricting creativity to actions that refine the particular discipline that “owns” these concepts and rules. In a broader perspective of human development, creativity should rather be seen as a radical force in the reorientation of cultivation. <br/><br/>Artistic activity is often taken for granted as a creative domain, this despite the fact that much art, and much artistic intention, is not necessarily aspiring to make any radical change of the circumstances in which it is communicated. Still, the role of art in societies can be claimed to be of importance for human development. Art, of which decorative art is only a sub-category, may historically, and indeed in several archaeological and anthropological perspectives, be seen as a projection surface for the self-conceiving of a culture. And, in recent perspectives of shared cognitive resources, contemporary art may be considered as a generative part of the self-definition of individuals as well as communities (Brinck 200X). Art has even been described as “a major factor in evolving the cognitive domains in the long history of the human species” (Donald 2006), and in this perspective art is to be regarded as an important part in evolutionary change, a trigger that apart from belonging in the (later) theoretic stage involves also the more basic (earlier) cognitive domains of the mimetic and mythic stages (Donald 2006). <br/><br/>If art in general has these evolutionary and extensional qualities, what then could we say about the metacognitive, self-questioning agency of critical art, sometimes labelled “institutional critique”, i.e art that beyond depiction or beauty aims at exposing the fundaments upon which it itself is collected, maintained, symbolized, economized? Through examples from contemporary art, it will here be discussed if creativity – in order to distinguish it from problem-solving, refinement of discipline, or (in the other end) mere destruction – is best understood as an open-ended intention that alters the comprehension of its context. <br/><br/>The perspectival ability to achieve “dissensus rather than consensus” (Ranciere 200X), or the semiotic capacity to distinguish comprehensions of culture, extra-culture and non-culture (Sonesson 200X) can be seen as ingredients, or even “requirements”, of such cultural critique displaying awareness of, or suggestions to cultural alteration.<br/><br/>Key words: creativity, originality, context<br/>}},
author = {{Sandin, Gunnar}},
keywords = {{kreativitet; evolution}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Creativity and the evolvement of culture. The altering capacity of art works, paper presentation, Lisbon, 26-29 June.}},
year = {{2012}},
}