art

Hot Links | Innovating the Everyday | Busting Fake News | Singularity vs. Culture | Algorithms and Bias

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Some are new, some are not.  Nonetheless, all of the articles linked to below are currently fueling our ideas for/discussions on arts-led innovation.

Eyebeam announced their inaugural residents in a pilot program "that takes an artist-led approach to fighting misinformation and fake news”.

A Strategy + Business article reminds us of the necessity to innovate “the mundane”, and the value of improving the systems we utilize daily.

MIT Media Lab’s Joichi Ito on the dangers of singularity and the worship of A.I., with a call to action to "depend less on the accumulation of power and resources and more on diversity and the richness of experience” (our italics).

More from MIT today (and more disturbing information about A.I.): Nova reports on how human bias has been translated into artificial intelligence, and the scientists that are attempting to correct the issue.  

The Intrinsic is Enough

Contrary to popular belief, the intrinsic is essential. 

It forms our individual and collective compositions, yet in political and economic discussions on the arts and culture, we diminish that which makes us whole. 

As we explored in last week’s post, we are overly reliant on the quantifiable.  We revere that which is separate from ourselves simply because it generates visible results.    Since it is not seen but felt, the intrinsic is considered less significant, or even meaningless, by market forces (and therefore the political sphere).  These beliefs lead many artists and culture bearers to, in their fundraising efforts, clumsily yoke their work to extrinsic benchmarks that can never convey their power and influence. 

What do we search for most ardently in life, if not meaning and feeling?  It is the arts and culture’s rooting in sensation that makes them meaning full. The intrinsic holds the ultimate significance.

After the recent passing of artists David Bowie and Natalie Cole, the discussions that bubbled up had little to do with “the numbers”.  Their art weighted trillions of moments for people across the globe, across generations and across sensibilities.  Bowie and Cole’s lives’ work formed the foundation of billions of stories that, when shared, healed, buoyed and connected their mourning fans – and created new ones posthumously.  The music business may promote extrinsic benefits, but the greatest value of its products is intrinsic. Its current crises may be resolved by an industry-wide deference to this reality.

Management guru Dr. Nancy J. Adler has written often on the arts and leadership in the 21st Century.  In her work, she implores business leaders to uncover beauty, to seek direction from artists if they desire to succeed in ways that benefit the world broadly. Acknowledgment of the intrinsic’s primacy to our fundamental selves and our collective sense of community, will facilitate the development of an economy that is accountable.

Design Thinking: On the Importance of Unity (STEAM)

The concept of the gestalt should be at the forefront of all design thinking.   The gestalt principles acknowledge the importance of a “unified whole” to successful innovation.   Adherence to these principles encourages cohesion and connection, and ultimately the creation of products and services that are, in their usefulness and beauty, designed to elevate the human experience. 

It is often said that we inhabit a connected era, but I believe that these (hyper) links are largely superficial.  Neither our society nor our workforce is unified and, in spite of the myriad methods of communication available, we are fundamentally disconnected.   This disconnect is exacerbated by the artificial threads woven by technologies that exclude the perspectives of the arts and the humanities – fundamentally people-centric perspectives – from business innovation.  

The prioritization of one perspective (STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) has led us into an unhealthy system. Businesses do not operate in a vacuum, and the shortsighted prioritization of STEM skills over others has created an imbalance that, if it is not mediated, may lead to disastrous results.  These skewed ideals have led to a proliferation of content without content: like so many artisanal donuts, its appearance belies its lack of substance.  While the perspectives of the arts and humanities are suppressed, their fruits are emptily replicated to achieve questionable ends.  We require a unified approach to best solve the problems of the present and establish a thriving future.

The elevation of the arts and broad humanities into the contemporary, STEM-dominated dialogue will not only empower us to connect meaningfully, it will help us to solve many of the issues that perplex us.  At last, the arts and humanities are finding allies in STEM culture and businesses, who recognize that systems must be complete to function well.

The triple bottom line is dependent on the health and safety of people and planet, and a unified economy will help us to innovate and advance sustainably.  A workforce which equally incorporates perspectives from the sciences, the arts and the humanities will encourage balance and reciprocity, which can deepen comprehension and propel innovation and creativity in ways that are best for culture, commerce and community.

Adapting the gestalt to our commercial sector will facilitate the plurality of skills and perspectives that will advance the triple bottom line of sustainability.  It will help us to repair the fractures and fortify our futures that, though inevitably imperfect, can be continually improved upon.

WÆRK is rooted in the gestalt, and brings people, ideas and products together in ways that encourage a thriving triple bottom line.  We provide the missing pieces to organizations who understand that the processes of business as usual are incomplete.  We encourage our clients to adopt a new way of working, of building and of thinking, so that they may provide the people who buy their products and services with the experiences they want and need.

A lopsided economy will ultimately collapse.  An economy that is a unified whole of many modes of thought and practices will flourish, by developing understanding in the present to advance sustainably in the future.

Photo by Ingram Publishing/Ingram Publishing / Getty Images

Six Things We're Thankful For in 2015

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches in the U.S., we celebrate the many people we are thankful for: our friends and family members, our advisers and clients, and everyone who has joined us on our journey. 

There are also a lot of things we’re grateful for this year, and we’d like to share our top six with you:

  1. We’re thankful for the New York City MTA’s Poetry in Motion, for providing inspiration during our daily commutes.
  2. We’re thankful for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art’s Louisiana Channel. It provides us with introductions to new perspectives from our favorite artists, and introduces us to artists we would’ve been unfamiliar with otherwise.
  3. We’re thankful for Sarah Stodola’s “Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors”, for drawing attention to the routines, rituals and practices that resulted in the creation of cherished literary works (and for reminding the world that the muse is one hardworking mother!).
  4. We’re thankful for Elsie’s Parlor, for providing us with delicious, caffeinated fuel for early morning brainstorms.
  5. We’re thankful for Bevy Smith’s Instagram page, for its continual reminders that a "gratitude attitude" will get you everywhere.
  6. We’re thankful for Americans for the Arts’ Art and Business Council, for facilitating creative partnerships that unite culture, commerce and communities.

What are the things you're thankful for? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Photo by Comstock/Stockbyte / Getty Images

Design Thinking: Bauhaus Philosophy and an Inclusive Future

Although Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus nearly a century ago, the movement’s influence on design is ubiquitous. Its emphasis on clean lines and form/function unity is everywhere – from street signs to home furnishings, to the smartphone you may be reading this on.    As the Bauhaus philosophy approaches its centenary, we believe that its less visible tenets are similarly relevant to contemporary life and, if adopted, have sweeping implications for progressive future.

In addition to advocating for beauty in everyday life, the Bauhaus believed in:

  • The elimination of creative hierarchies (something we feel strongly about)
  • A focus on collective benefits and widespread access
  • Art as a means of problem solving in modern society
  • The artist’s role in society as an active participant
  • That good designs should produce no waste

Digital technologies provide ideal environments in which to expand these tenets.   “Good design creates great experiences” by making connections between ideas, objects and events that may not be immediately apparent.  These connections create affinities between diverse individuals and disparate communities, and provide opportunities to remove barriers – physical, emotional, psychological. It’s true: collective creative effort generates dynamic results.

At WÆRK, we adopt a Bauhaus philosophy and employ it in each project and within all of our operations.  We bring beauty to everyday life by equally including perspectives from the arts, sciences and humanities in all of our projects.   We take our clients on journeys through the grey areas that color the spectrum of life, and help them to build things, experiences and ideas that matter, through a focus on revealing understanding.

Widespread adoption, of the Bauhaus philosophy's inclusive tenets, can point us toward a future that is both connected and kind.  One in which creativity is propelled by empathy and intuition, and technology isn’t beholden to the cult of efficiency über alles.

Photo by Jelena_Z/iStock / Getty Images

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