The Importance of Collaborative Creativity
When we think of art, we think of singularly creative people. We imagine a sculptor or a painter. We think of trouble genius or a colorful personality. But more often than not, works of creativity, especially those we might experience in our everyday life, have the hands and minds of several people mashed into the final product you see.
When I took my first self portrait of the day, I just took something from my nearby vicinity and added it to the frame. In this case, olives. Then, while looking on Flickr, I saw this photo by Jim Kirks:
Used utterly without his permission, by the way. But my point is that Jim’s photo made me think about how to do my own. Enter: Katrina. She came up with the idea of shooting my eye up close with my cameraphone such that it looked roughly in the same place as my real eye. The result:
[Update]- Steve Garfield posted this in comments to my eyeball pic:
(photo credit Steve Garfield)
Katrina’s idea was better than what I would’ve come up with on my own. But then, we got even more collaborative. She came up with a few different photos to shoot, as once Katrina gets started, things really go faster and faster into a neat direction. She did this one of herself, after doing a smiley-face one that wasn’t as visually interesting:
And then, we hit upon the idea that I like the most of the whole bunch. Katrina’s idea, of course. Here’s what happens when people collaborate:
The point is this: working solo will always net solo results. Working collaboratively will often result in bursts of creative leapfrogging, where the first idea is good, but the final idea is really interesting and inventive.
What’s your take?
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Comments
seriously… i’m starting to have dreams of being eaten alive by chris brogan. or perhaps just chewed on. it’s a bit scary. :)
also, olives are gross. especially green ones. what the heck is a pimento anyway?
hey, guess who’s coming to nyc? it will completely brokify me, but i think it will be fun and totally worth it.
see you next friday!
As I mentioned in some of my emails to you, I have been doing almost all of my creative stuff collaboratively for several years. I am 100% in support of this approach. Everything from making music to decorating my house for Halloween goes better with other people.
In defense of going solo, however, I have found that my recent change in musical circumstance has led to a newfound love for going it alone. I’m setting up a studio and writing stuff I didn’t know I had in me. It’s been great. There’s a lot to be said for running the whole show yourself.
Which is not to say that whatever I produce couldn’t then be turned over to outside parties with inspiring results.
-Jon
speed matters
when ideas start going
they explode
brains bouncing really fast is cool
if you wait a day to join in
or even an hour these days
pffftt
it’s past
it illiminates the
“gosh i’d do it, but i have to really think about it first.”
“Man i’m kinda busy but let me write that down.”
with fun creative bouncing
it’s like a wave at the game
get up on the crest
otherwise
when you get up later
well
you’ll be a dork with his arms in the air.
creative bouncing
get your pogo
The most fun I ever have is when I am creating something with other people. One person alone can create great things, of course. But two or more heads together make magic.
@Chris… you caught me being lazy!
OK… I’ve posted two pics!
http://inkndoodles.com/2007/04/02/collaborative-creativity/
-Rob
In the future, “gallery openings” will be done via SMS…