Name: Suzanne Moore E-mail: Sm90316@students.leeds-art.ac.uk SUBJECTS OF CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH ALREADY UNDERTAKEN
Level 4: The value of fine art / visual communication Level 5: The male gaze and the media AIM AND/OR OBJECTIVE OF YOUR PROPOSED C.O.P.3 PROJECT For my proposed COP3 project I want to look into the brain and creativity. I want to look at the science of how the brain works, and also the phycology, and how the world would alter if everyone could become a 'creative'. I want to look into the history of creativity, and how you can harness it. Possible questions so far could be : - Is creativity something you are born with, or can anyone be creative - The creative brain : How insight works - Is there such thing as a creative brain - What makes us creative - The creative brain : does it add value to work - Anyone can be creative - Are some people naturally more creative than others
What research needs to be undertaken into the general and specific contexts of your practice?
I need to research into the brain, find scientific studies into creative and non creative brain activity Research into the history of the term 'Creativity' Creative Rhetorics Find what makes you 'creative' I need to find scientist and phycologist who are studying the brain and creativity Find case studies that have looked into the brain and insight Research into the phycology of creativity Research into different ways of thinking about things : insight vs analysis Theories on how to enhance creative performance Look into the benefits of a creative world how creativity effects design practice Research into the studies of : - Prof Jonathan Schooler, University of California, Santa Barbara - Dr Charles Limb, Johns Hopkins University - Dr Rex Jung, University of New Mexico - Dr Simone Ritter, Radboud University Nijmegen - Dr Mark Beeman, North Western University - Prof John Kounios, Drexel University Banaji et al, nine 'rhetorics of creativity'
What approach(es) will you take and what processes, methods, materials and tools are to be involved in research into your practice? I want to make my research for my subject as diverse and interesting as possible, so I want to have a real mixture of primary and secondary research, not just relying on the internet and books, I want to learn about my subject through doing, so I will be conducting surveys, experiments, case studies, interviews etc so that I have a diverse amount of primary research. I will also be using the obvious methods of research to gather secondary research, such as, the internet, books, journals and documentaries. I will be looking into the phycological, historical and sociological aspects of creativity so that I have a rounded understanding of what creativity is. I will look into the theories of Csikszentmihalyi and Banaji, as well as other theorist views that I come across through research. I will also be looking at the research of scientist and phycologist who are studying the brain and creativity right now (see list above) so that my research will be current and relevant to creativity and science today.
What preparation or investigations do you need to undertake for your creative practice to take place?
I need to work out where I want to source people from for my primary research. I will most likely need a broad range of people, creative and non creative to get a wide spectrum of relevant results. I will need to work out what test and investigations I want to use for my research and then work out ways of approaching people to get involved with my research. I want to conduct interviews in the style of D&AD the blank sheet project, where they ask creative people, about their personal creative experiences. I think this would be a really interesting way of finding out how creative people thing creativity works. So I will need to source a group of creative people who are willing to be part of an interview into their work and creative path. I have a list of scientists and phycologist who are currently looking into the subject of creativity and the brain so I will have to locate their research and try and find if it is published online / in books, as this is something I have not tried to do yet. As well as sourcing the work of the scientist and phycologists, I am also going to have to source books etc on relevant theorists to my research. I also want to research into researching, by using the books available to us in the library. If I can get a firm understanding of how to successfully research, I feel it will harness my project and mean that everything I do is relevant and I won't waste time on irrelevant things, meaning my research will be thorough and the best it can be.
What research do you need to undertake regarding who your creativity is for? As my project is about creativity my audience will obviously be from a creative background, most likely from the public sector and service industry of the creative industry. Bearing this in mind it will be very important to make my work visually aesthetically pleasing and well executed as my audience will have an appreciation for design, craft etc. I will have to research into who specifically within the creative industry will be interested in my subject so that I have a focused audience, which is important when it comes to designing.
Primary Sources of Information
1.
Description
I want to conduct my own case studies doing creativity tests such as, the divergent thinking test, so I can have my own statistics.
Location 2.
Description
I will interview creatives and non creatives to see how they differ.
Location 3.
Description
I will try and contact phycologist/scientists where this is their specialist subject.
Location Secondary Sources of Information
1. Documentary (bbc)
Horizen:The creative brain - How insight works.
2. Book
Brains: the mind as matter Wingate, richard & Kwing, Marius (2012)
3. Book
Drawing on the right side of the brain, Edwards, Betty (1993)
4. Online - http://www.creativepartnerships.com/literaturereviews
Banaji, S., Burn, A. and Buckingham, D. (2006) ‘The rhetorics of creativity: A review of the literature’ Creative Partnerships Arts Council England
5. Book
Why are you creative? / Vaske, Hermann (2002)
6. Book
Csikszentmihalyi (1990) Flow, the psychology of optimal experience NY HarperCollins
Perceived problems or difficulties: Possible problems will be not being able to get in contact with the phycologist/scientist for primary research, or possibly not bing able to get hold of their research and case studies in detail for secondary research as they might not be published. I also need to get a good understanding of terminology to do with the brain otherwise a problem may be that I don't understand the research that I am reading. I want to conduct some first hand experiments into creativity using techniques that I researched into such as the divergent thinking test. This will rely on audience participation which can be quite risky as it is relying on someone else.
BA (Hons) Graphic Design Context of Practice 3 Proposal Form 2013 Make sure you print a copy off for your own records