Tuesday 27 February 2018

Architecture, Art and Aha! Moments: Ten TED talks on Creativity

I feel I've been on a roll when it comes to watching TED talks, and can't believe it's taken me so long to get on with my goal of watching 100.

Well...I'm definitely going to reach that goal. I still have 100-odd talks on my 'watch later' list on YouTube!

After all the talks on learning, I ended up watching a bunch of talks on creativity. This includes art, design, and ideas!


How to build your creative confidence | David Kelley
In a talk pretty much summed up by its title, David Kelley explains how anyone can be creative, and how people can come to think themselves creative through a few tiny steps, giving some anecdotes and examples along the way.




Milton Glaser: How great design makes ideas new
Milton Glaser, a graphic designer, talks about design, and deconstructs the thoughts behind a painting inspired Piero della Francesca, and making an old idea new by breaking it down.
Design as a subject is something I struggle to understand a little, so this talk was particularly interesting! It's great to see creative things, and to learn about the thought and intention behind them!


John Maeda: How art, technology and design inform creative leaders
In this talk, the president of the Rhode Island School of Design talks about how the evolution of technology has led to more possibilities in design and art, and how it effects leadership. He provides a few demonstrations of his early work along the way, which really highlights how technology has evolved!


Dan Phillips: Creative houses from reclaimed stuff
A fantastic talk by builder Dan Phillips, showcasing the houses he's build in Texas--using 70-80% of recycled materials.
This is a fascinating one to watch, if not for the quirky style of some of the houses then for the inspiration found in his creativity!


Use art to turn the world inside out | JR
Street artist JR talks about his wish to turn the world inside out, and discusses an project in which he travelled the world creating portraits of the local people and pasting them up--and creative solutions to the problems he and his team encountered along the way.
This talk is actually really inspiring, and really shows how art can change the world--not merely by making things beautiful, but by making people think, making a statement, and...providing a leak-free roof. (Watch the talk to understand).


All art is relative: Alice Coleman at TEDxUlanbataarWomen
Writer, director, and teacher Alice Coleman talks about her experiences in the creative world, the importance of doing the things you love, and how in doing so, you can help inspire the next generation


Why the buildings of the future will be shaped by...you | Marc Kushner
Architect Marc Kushner explains how architecture has changed over the past thirty years: how architects swing between traditional architectural forms that the public recognises, and more 'innovative' styles that haven't always had the greatest public response. He talks about the public as a crucial part of the design process, and how social media has enabled architects to provide innovative solutions that the public likes--before it has even been built.
(I probably explained this badly, but it's a great talk!)


Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture
In this talk, Michael Pawlyn talks about three key things we can learn from nature - radical resource efficiency, closed loops, and solar economy - and implement in an improved architecture and society. Talking about things such as biomimicry, he reveals some of the nature-inspired design choices made in the creation of such places as the Eden Project, and transforming waste into valuable opportunities.
This talk really highlights the potential that technology, biomimicry and design has to provide solutions for some of the world's biggest problems.


Want to be more creative? Go for a walk | Marily Oppezzo
Behavioural and learning scientist Marily Oppezzo discusses research into the connection between exercise and creativity, and reveals that the key to getting the most out of your brainstorm could well be as simple as taking a walk.
Having discovered for myself that walking can help ideas happen and get my brain 'unstuck' from problems, it's great to know there's scientific research into it!


The search for "aha!" moments | Matt Goldman
An entertaining and inspirational talk from Matt Goldman, co-founder of Blue Man Group. He talks about how taking the things learnt from the Blue Man Group shows - that 'aha moments' can be frequent and intentional - and using this knowledge in education to create Blue School, which balances creativity, self and social intelligence, and academics.
This is a fun talk and I want to go to Blue School now.

This selection of talks turned out to be pretty varied in the end! It's often hard to know exactly what a talk is about until you watch it, which has led to this batch being about everything from idea generation and architecture to scientific studies and street art!

With this lot, my watched talks list is up to 80! Twenty more to go!

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