The invention of "focket" |fʌk ɪt|, childhood and the creativity of innocence and naivety

This is a story about a garden, parental difficulty, and how a child invented a new sport in a spontaneous moment of partial naivety.

The worst cricket pitch in the UK?

Last summer I was playing in the garden with my eldest daughter (above). She had just turned 7 years old. We were playing cricket and taking turns to bat and bowl on an admittedly terrible wicket (slope, long grass, interfering cats). She was beginning to get into her stride batting when she completely misjudged a delivery, swiped her bat through nothing, and then kicked the plastic ball straight up in the air. Before even reaching the top of its arc she shouted "Fuck it!" and grinned at me. What!? Er...?

I was stunned. Where had she picked this sort of language up? Who has she heard saying this? I composed myself, stared straight at her (adopting a serious-but-quizzical expression) and said, "I beg your pardon young lady?" She was unphased and even mildly disappointed at my apparent lack of insight or imagination; "You know? 'Foo-cket', it's a cross between football and cricket."

I fell over laughing without any acceptable way of explaining quite why I found this such a relief and so amusing.

Now clearly, 'Foo-cket' would probably never take off in reasonable way for the obvious reasons (consider the complaints to the BBC about language used during radio coverage alone). The invention of this combination or hybrid sport did, however, involve approximately 0.4 seconds deliberation, emerged spontaneously entirely out of thinking context and activity (we were doing sport and being 'physical' not playing 'word games' at the time-she wasn't trying to invent new sports), and revealed something quite fascinating, to me, about human creativity and learning.

Firstly, part of my daughter's thinking (her subconscious) was obviously busy playing with descriptors and language related to her activities whilst she was otherwise apparently entirely engrossed in hand-eye-coordination and application of specific physical skills and techniques. Part of her wasn't thinking about what she was doing but rather on how these processes might be described or how they could be conceptualised. She was 'riffing' with concepts and ideas and her subconscious threw an idea to her conscious thinking that was so clear that it found occasion to be vocalised and become a shred thought. She innovated and communicated spontaneously, without 'attempted thought'.

Secondly, the humour inherent in this moment of 'spontaneous neologism' was only apparent to me at the time (I deliberately downplayed the incident with my daughter in case she encouraged her classmates to establish "fuck it" as the favourite playground game) and to 'adults' (or 'grown ups') in re-telling. The very basis of what is funny (this plausible sport name sounds the same as something you are generally not culturally supported in shouting at your parent at the age of 7), was not a factor in my daughter's thinking at the moment of creation (thankfully).

Finally, give that perhaps my favourite explanation of how to be creative is 'combine everything you know with everything you know', this moment insight suddenly made me realise that this is exactly what children can only do from an early age. That is what conscious experience is through early stages of development. It's only when consciousness becomes more 'developed' that it becomes more capable of compartmentalisation and the cognitive 'switching off' of particular neural pathways when 'focused' thinking or activity is required (See George Land -- 'Breakpoint and Beyond', 1998, for more detailed insight into the impact of formal education on divergent thinking capability).

I like think that this anecdote demonstrates that:

• Creativity can emerge without conscious effort.
• Creativity can sometimes be invisible to the originator (require external recognition).
• Creativity can require collaboration to realise potential.
• It is possible for a 7-year-old child to be more creative with ideas than an internationally published creativity researcher when playing cricket.

I realise that at any given moment I am getting progressively better at screening out more and more of what I know as I 'concentrate' and 'focus'. I think of this as (perhaps optimistically) as a product of sophistication and complexity rather than an inevitable indication of cognitive decline, but nevertheless recognise this as something to guard against, resist and counter. The ability to both cultivate subconscious association and 'play', and to allow ideas to 'reach the surface' and be shared is hugely important.

Whenever you struggle to generate the ideas you need just think 'Fuck It'. You might just find your subconscious has the answers.

Creative space?

Where am I creative? Where is my creative space? Do I need time or a place? Am I more creative in certain spaces and less in others? Is 'creative space' a state of mind of a set of practical circumstances and functionalities?

Much has been written about 'creative space'. This often relates to the physical and architectural environment when industrial or educational productivity is the focus, or the home and natural environment and 'work/life' balance when well-being is the focus. The submission by architects AZC of a design for a trampoline-based inflatable bridge in Paris (below) also demonstrates a growing focus on 'creative' civic design to transform not only the appearance or functionality, but also the experience of urban spaces.

 http://tinyurl.com/b739noe (2012)

There are significant transformations in business architecture around the world that illustrate the lengths corporate strategy can extend in order to maximise creative potential of the workforce. From the more notable examples including Google (slides and a T-Rex with flamingos), Pixar (garden sheds, isolation booths), and Red Bull (More slides), many companies are fundamentally transforming their approach to corporate architecture and working routines as a means of stimulating creativity. The balance sheets and profitability of many companies with progressive approaches to productive space would appear to validate these approaches without question.

 http://tinyurl.com/b3c2xcj

However, there are far too many (arguably even all) of the most significant acts of human creativity to have emerged from significantly unfavorable environments for 'types of space' to be considered necessary for creativity itself to emerge. There are too many examples of creativity through adversity, duress, threat, crisis, or squalor, for calm, tranquility, soft furnishes and sensory gardens to claim an exclusive causal effect.

Whilst I don't want to open the related discussion of personal well-being and creativity here (there is a future post in this topic), the quite magnificent Quatour pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the end of time) by Olivier Messiaen is just one notable example of musical genius (and beauty) emerging from filth and horror, in this case of Nazi death camps (1941). There are too many other examples of bedroom genius, garden shed inventiveness, and against-all-the-odds innovation for 'good circumstances' to marginalise 'difficult circumstances' in the analysis of the emergence of creativity.

Don't get be wrong, I love the idea of slides in tall buildings and I wouldn't stop there. I'd have climbing walls, ball pits, swings, hammocks, live music, scooter lanes in wide corridors, bean bag rest spaces, and bouncy castles in my own workplace if I could. These would all make my daily routine much more fun and I'm sure change the perspective or thinking of colleagues. These are excellent 'provocations' (De Bono) to stimulate lateral thinking and fantastic ways of instigating different dynamics and inter-personal relationships in staff teams.

However, I don't need these to be creative. In fact I often 'feel' at my most creative in the transition spaces (commuting) and in active situations when I would otherwise describe myself as being in 'listening and absorbing information mode'. I feel creative in dead spaces and whilst putting out the bins, I have creative ideas when struggling to change a wheel on the car and whilst tending to the otherwise mundane. I have had wonderful musical ideas whilst experiencing significant emotional stress or physical illness, and have great ideas about my profession just when I haven't the time.

Colour, when featured more prominently in working spaces can have a demonstrable impact on work produced in that space. Natural sounds are better than drilling noise for concentration. There are basic requirements for people to operate at their best but in the end, people will demonstrate their creative potential according to numerous development factors rather than transform spontaneously into creative individuals according to the 'space' in which they operate or move.

More important factors in developing creativity are upbringing, education and 'space' provided for exploration and personalisation of expression. In other words, it is ME that is creative, not me when I'm in room with nice plants and a water feature. I have worked at this and can apply specific techniques and operate spontaneously whenever the situation requires. This is not because I am special, it is because I am normal.

Thinking about creativity (a blog manifesto)

This blog is about creativity. Here I want to introduce my manifesto and present some initial thoughts about the subject. More focused creativity topics will be explored in future posts.

In short form my manifesto is simply: CREATIVITY MATTERS.

The medium form of my manifesto is: BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR CREATIVITY BECAUSE CREATIVITY MATTERS.

The longer form is necessarily more discursive and arguably (and even ironically) more prosaic:

The subject of creativity has been a focus of scientific research (psychology, neurology, sociology, pedagogy, biology), and philosophical debate with increasing activity and connectivity for well over a century. Whilst medieval Christianity's concept of "creatio ex nihilo" (or God's 'creation from nothing') is illustrative of a long established reservation of creativity for the 'supernatural' realm, the resurgence of modernism and realisation of technological and scientific progress in the 20th century has led to 'creative' becoming progressively ubiquitous as a term used to describe people, organisations, institutions, and even counties (Staffordshire). One aim with this blog is to work towards clarity, and balance, and to try to ensure 'creativity' as terminology is not dissolved fully into a sea of vagueness whilst avoiding any sense of 'ownership' by any particular domain, environment or field of human endeavour.

Whilst there are issues of definition and clarity to explore, this blog is also designed to stimulate discussion and debate and to (hopefully) increase a focus on creative capacity as something important, capable of development, and inherent in everyone. With an underlying educational slant, a further aim of this blog is to advocate and to illustrate methods, strategies, examples, and fundamental procedures capable of developing creative ideas.

Finally, the tone of this blog is designed to be playful and experimental. Views and ideas expressed are my own, not necessarily representative of those of institutions or organisations with which I work, and may occasionally stray into the abstract and experimental. I reserve this right.


Thanks for reading. I will be back.