What is Creativity?

Oxford languages defines creativity as 'the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness'. For me, creativity is hard to define. I believe the definition given here fits what I think of creativity however before I read it I wouldn't have been able to put my thoughts of creativity into words. From my research, it seems that anything can be creative if it is inventive or innovative. The first plane, train, the first vaccine maybe.

In both the link and the images above creativity is defined as 'the ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas'. Unique and original are used to describe the ideas produced via the use of creativity a lot. To me, I would think that subversion and creativity, therefore, go hand in hand. To be subversive in creative practice, whether that be through satire or art, you need to be able to find interesting ways to produce your message. If you are showing an opposing message through these fields you are subverting using your creativity surely?

In this article from California State University, creativity is defined as a method of generating and recognising ideas, alternatives and possibilities as a process of problem-solving. It also mentions that to be creative you need to view the world in news to gain different perspectives. This gives the impression to me that creativity itself is a form of subversion.

Robert W. Weisberg seems to argue that any invention that is the first of its kind is an example of creativity i.e. the first aeroplane. That suggests to me that any form of innovation is creative as well.

It also seems though that manipulating something that exists, to either make it better or change its purpose is a form of creativity. An example could be Facebook. It wasn't the first social network but it is the social network of sorts. Zuckerberg made it better and more useful to its users, added aspects that had never been done before and (whether you agree with it) found ways to make more money out of it.

I had never really thought of creativity in this way before. I normally, probably like many others, think of painters and sculptors. The idea of considering a software engineer, or anyone working with number, computers and code, a creative seems foreign to me but it makes sense. They still think the same way a creative practitioner does. The goal is to solve a problem, create an answer to brief and create something new that hasn't been done before. From the definitions given above anyone who creates or designs something new is being creative, whether that be in science, engineering, art, computing or design. They are all thinking creatively to generate new ideas and solve problems in the world, whether small or large. Creativity seems to be a way of thinking and not defined by how artistic the outcome result is.

Bibliography.

California State University, Northridge. (n.d.). What is Creativity? http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Creativity. In dictionary.cambridge.org Retrieved January 6, 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/creativity

Oxford Languages. (n.d.). Creativity. In google.com. Retrieved January 6, 2021, from https://www.google.com/search?q=creativity&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB758GB758&oq=creativity&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0i433j0i67i395i433j0i395i433j46j46i175i199l2j0.1520j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8