Workshop
Creativity and the Twenty-first Century
Professor Michael Grenfell
Trinity College, Dublin,
Ireland
University of Southampton, UK
Thursday, 1 December 2016
University of Canberra
In this two-part workshop, participants will consider a range of theoretical approaches to Creativity and their applications in practice from diverse perspectives, including philosophy, aesthetics, sociology and psychology. The aim is to explore the essential features of Creativity and how they play out procedurally from different points of view.
In the morning session, participants will be introduced to the topic and will be presented with a synopsis of the different approaches. Suggested readings will be provided. However, we are asking participants to come with their own readings and experiences of Creativity with respect to their particular media. We are aiming to have as many practical examples as possible, please.
In the afternoon session, Creativity will be presented within more of a social frame, in particular, that derived from the French social theorist, Pierre Bourdieu. A copy of Professor Michael Grenfell's translation of Bourdieu's seminar with fine art students in Nîmes will be provided for participants prior to the workshop. This debate sets creative endeavor within an analysis of the field of cultural reproduction, and the dynamics it contains. This field will be explored, as it exists in the twenty-first century, and the use of Bourdieu's tools both in understanding and operating within it. In particular, participants will be encouraged to consider 'Social' and 'objective art' as contrasting terms which might help us to better understand the way the creative impulse is instantiated in trans-historic and contemporary contexts.
This workshop is open to postgraduate students and early career academics (up till two years after finishing their postgraduate studies).
Those interested in participating should email aawp.conference@canberra.edu.au with a letter of application, including a description of your current research, a summary of the readings/experience that you would like to present during the workshop, and a brief note as to how you think your work might benefit from participating in this workshop.