Creativity Nouvelle

Lately, I've noticed people discussing how the internet is changing art, especially in terms of the loss of spontaneity (check out Ben Malbon, Kevin Rothermel, and Ana Andjelic have been writing).

Another way that I've seen art changing is more in terms of the evolution of creativity. Thanks to the ease of involvement, more people are expressing their creativity through social media.

One of the main usages cited for social media is people’s desire for self expression.

While content creators are a small but powerful selection of users, a larger group is expressing themselves in new ways through social media. Examples include editing MySpace and Twitter design, filling out Facebook’s 25 Questions meme, contributing to open source projects, customizing products online, Tumblr blogs, and creating fashion collages on Polyvore.

By allowing anyone to easily modify, publish, and spread their own unique additions, social media allows everyday people who would not normally produce their own work a creative outlet for self-expression. Social media eliminates factors limiting this group offline, such as lack of confidence, inspiration, or time.

Reasons driving the surge of creativity through social media include:

• Existing creative framework. People don’t need to invent and produce entirely new ideas, they simply tweak what already exists. This saves them the effort of creating a new idea and the time of actually developing that new idea.
• Low involvement of entry. Most sites that encourage creativity are free and, because of the existing creative framework, require less time than individual endeavors.
• Anonymity. By concealing their identity, some people feel more comfortable about sharing their creative ventures.
• Encouragement from the community. Positive reviews motivate people to continue their efforts.
• Potential popularity. Acceptance is still a driving factor for human action, and social media facilitates the hunt for popularity.

And takeaways, esp. for brands:

• The ratio of effort vs. output is a driving factor for the evolution of creativity online
• Allowing websites or applications to be uniquely modifiable engages consumers
• Creative expression is a non-tangible benefit to give to consumers
• When attempting to generate UGC for themselves, brands should guide users with parameters to encourage widespread participation

Live East, Die Young

I went to the opening of POW (Pictures on Walls) this weekend in Shoreditch and discovered two new artists to fall in love with.

The POW festival was a great communal effort to launch a street art gallery/ store.

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Of course, there was a Banksy exhibition there.

The entire road was closed down and full of little modifications (in addition to big additions).

Anyway...to the two artists! Btoy and Simon Munnery.

By the time I got there on the second day of the exhibition, everything from Btoy's collection had been sold.




Simon Munnery wrote pamphlets titled "How to Live." I loved the short, witty collection so I bought it (plus it had an excellent list of security guard jokes). Here are some quotes:

What do you get for the man who has everything?
Might I suggest a gravestone inscribed with the words: so what?

All men are brothers.
Hence war.

and finally...

You can't fool all the people all the time. But you can try. It's called advertising.

It's True....

Germans really ARE obsessed. Found this delight in Berlin:

Interaction in London

Two of my less-strange but still diverse interests* are technology and art and I've gotten to see some interesting public art in London recently. There's a great and surprising exhibit in Trafalgar Square right now called Under Scan by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.



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Lozano-Hemmer set up two projectors that create videos in passerby's shadows. It's a strange concept because when people in Trafalgar Square look down, they are greeted by an image of a person waving at them. The exhibit is set up so that the projected people look directly at a viewer, interact with them, and appear to lose interest as the viewer walks away.

Neato. And a lot less eerie than the exhbit I just saw in the Saatchi Gallery, where aged models of world leaders in electric wheelchairs roll around in the basement.



More information on Under Scan here.




* Example: I'm graduating with a Minor in Visual Art and a Liberal Arts Concentration in Political Science. Woooo.

Pictures from BBC, Three Cities and the Saatchi Gallery