White paper on creativity - ebla center

Chapter 14Chapter 14Contemporary Art14.1. Contemporary art asdriver and mirror of postindustrialchangeContemporary art is per se purecreativity and speaking about oneimmediately conjures up the other. Butwhen we enter the world of visual arts,we discover that social relations, themarket, production and institutions areimportant factors modifying the verymeaning of the concept of creativity.In the last six months, aninternationally acclaimed artist likeDouglas Gordon has had 22 soloshows, Jonathan Monk 25, and OlafurEliasson 32 (source: artfacts.net). Thisis without counting their participationin collective exhibitions: in ten years,Gordon has been involved in 200,Monk 160, and Eliasson 184. Andthese are conservative estimates. At atime when companies are changingtheir organisation models to create amore ludic and relaxed atmosphere inworking environments so as to makemore room for individual expressionand creativity, contemporary art, therealm of creative thought par excellenceand all the complex and elusivemodalities of its manifestation, seemsto be moving towards the Tayloristmodel of the production line, in aperpetual race with pressing deadlinesfor programmes of increasingly intenseand geographically widespread artevents. Many of the most successfulartists – and especially those who tomake their work require productionprocesses involving a large number ofinterdisciplinary skills – now rely onteams of collaborators, organised insmall or even small to average-sizefirms. We are thus dealing with aprofound change in the productionmethods of contemporary art andperhaps even in the making of art itself.But what drives these artists to work somuch? Why do they engage in suchfrenetic activity, running the risk ofburning up their talent and consumingthe time and energy required for theconception and development of new,profound original projects? Ultimatelythey risk sacrificing the long-termsustainability of their creative processesfor the sake of short to medium-termproduction efficiency. The answer issimple. An enormous quantity ofrequests coming from all quarters: fromtraditional art places, such as museums,galleries, foundations, fairs, privatecollections and publishing houses butalso an increasing number ofcompanies, public institutions,hospitals, universities and scienceparks. Artists are no longer only askedWHITE PAPER ON CREATIVITY 319