Introduction

the spatiality of creativity

Peter Meusburger

Joachim Funke

Edgar Wunder

pp. 1-10

in: Peter Meusburger, Joachim Funke, Edgar Wunder (eds), Milieus of creativity, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

The concept of creativity used to be seen entirely as an entity depending on the faculties of individuals. Research on creativity in psychology, philosophy, and art criticism focused on the attributes of geniuses, gifted persons, creative artists and scientists, and creative performance and problem-solving. Eventually, researchers acknowledged that the creative scientist or artist does not work in a social, cultural, and economic vacuum. It was accepted that creative individuals are inspired or impeded by societal and organizational structures and that they depend on evalu-ators, audiences, and research infrastructure. It was recognized that such people may meet with incomprehension, competition, hostility, and social conflict, that interactions play an important role, and that learning processes are situated in environments and spatial structures. With the ascendence of these new perspectives, creativity began capturing attention in other disciplines as well.