Art and Design Commons^™

I Hate Creativity, Patricia Kovic

Pluriversal Design Conference Series

We love creativity. Everybody loves creativity and everybody wants a “Culture of Creativity.” However, there is strong evidence that we do not even like creativity, especially under stressful conditions. Creativity thrives in conditions of uncertainty, vagueness of purpose and psychological discomfiture — conditions that can be unbearable when added to the current anxieties of a shrinking academic landscape, the pandemic, let alone wicked problems like the climate crisis. We are terrified in these traumatic circumstances, so we shrink away from creativity toward the safety of what is known, understood and proven. As a result, Proxy Creativity emerges — one that …