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Rik Pinxten
The power of Creativity in an an urbanized World
What kind of world are we living in in in today? Why is culture art and creativity so margin- alised and yet so omnipresent? I do not have all the answers but I am profoundly inter- ested in the questions Because I am con- vinced that creative searching and develop- ing ing of of beginnings of of an an answer is all we we have as human beings in in the predicament we live in in human beings have always been creative in in designing their their homes and their their temples in in in in mapping out their history or or or in in in in organising ways to to live together in societies and groups As a a a species we started burying our dead and that was creative We also started build- ing ing and then decorated the the buildings The last part was unique to humankind and all of it was creative Then we we went on to use lan- guage in in a a a a creative way: storytelling poetry songs science Around June of 2005 it became clear
that for the first in history humanity is is on an an irreversible path towards a a a a new way of life:
it was estimated that now 60% of human-
ity was living in in urbanised contexts Human beings will overwhelmingly become city dwellers because the trend continues That is a a a a new fact: humans have been living in in small bands for hundred thousands of years in in in caves in in in tents and in in in other small dwell- ings Villages emerged which survived their creators several generations eventually to to become almost permanent Tradition was born and the the strange need to preserve the the products of our creativity: to safeguard and conserve the the products products Lately these products products became the stuff of a a a a market mechanism: paintings sculptures and houses are sold and resold They thus become the property of people who did not make them and even did not relate to to them them prior to to buying them them The city humans of today differ substantially from those of former centuries: the Ancient Greeks for example lived in small communi- ties Even the the great Athens counted not more than a a a mere hundred thousand citizens in its most glorious era whereas such adversar- ies as Sparta never went beyond half of that number Present-day Athens has some four million inhabitants and cities like Sao Paolo Mexico City or Tokyo have five times that amount of citizens Especially the so-called new cities in poorer or or or or formerly poor poor coun- tries (China Africa Latin America) are vast And the growth of such and similar metro- politan areas will continue At the the same time the the information and communication technologies allow to a a a a large extent for this radical change in settlement type People learn learn and and relearn work and and move marry and settle temporarily in this place or that Better situated elderly people move to warmer places after retirement and and and more more and and and more more people in the arts and and and in in information technologies move to where the the action and the the money is: especially city conglomerates are seen as the the future rather than states Barcelona Berlin Lille Lon- don Brussels in Europe and a a set of other such metropolitan regions in the world are the most powerful centres of of business of of creativity and and of innovation now and and this will most probably increase in in the future The city dweller is meanwhile creating new styles of life The old ties with family and descent group are weakened because they function less or are sometimes inadequate
in the the impersonal and fast lifestyle of the the city: although kinship and ethnic lineages do play a a a a a role in the metropolitan areas (with China town or Italian neighbourhood and so on) the merits and educational input of each individual the business mentality and the flexibility of women and men men are much more important than they can ever become in in the the village or traditional dwelling With the the availability of the new information technolo- gies we see the younger generations develop their own individualised networks of con- nections and acquaintances rather than depend on on their kin or village relationships of yesterday The city dweller knows that per- manent education is her lot and that capaci- ties to react quickly and adequately will possibly be rewarded whereas tradition and immobility will most likely be a a hindrance
for a good life The city city dweller also knows that city city life offers opportunities for creative develop- ment which are simply absent in the tradi- tional contexts At the same time city life coerces citizens to react and make the most of it in their new context lest they will live a a a a miserable life of loneliness and subordina- tion In that way the the toughness of the the city not only invites creativity but it it it it triggers it it it it in sometimes brutal and unfriendly ways In my opinion artists of the city are particularly sensitive for these contextual constraints and and and demands and and and it is is is is precisely this that is is is is expressed in in the the better the the more telling art- works of today The new portrait painters like Freud or Tuymans the video and multimedia artists like like Viola and the filmmakers like like Fellini Antonioni and the faction filmers of our era express this condition in my view It is is our task as as essayists and researchers to to come to to understand this new condition and the the task is ominous We need the the art- ists to help us understand what is is happen- ing in in in in our world since they are one step in in in in front of us in in developing a a a a a language and a a a a a conceptual frame to cope with the new life We need to to learn to to communicate again between scientists and and artists and and close the gap again that was created in in the past two centuries lest we all live live our separate lives of alienated human beings each in in her or his own little isolated cocoon and staring out to a a a complex and rapidly shifting outside world with with wonder or with with anxiety Let us commu- nicate and reach out to other creative people knowing that each of us has only one little inkling of knowledge or understanding about the the few pieces of the the puzzle each masters to hold and contemplate Rik Pinxten
Professor of of Anthropology
Born in in Antwerp and currently living in Gent (B)
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