Paper for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Social Sciences *

VIENNA 7-9 Feb 2003-02-04

Creative Process: a Constellation of Chaotic NexusThe Creative Helix Model

NIKI LAMBROPOULOS

Learning Technology Research Institute (LTRI)University of North London (UNL)166-220 Holloway RoadLondon, UK, N7 8DBTel: +44 (0)2073144301Fax: +44 (0)207314 4302Email: nil024@unl.ac.uk Informal emails: nikiunl@yahoo.co.uk & nikikon@hotmail.com

Abstract We report results of one-year study (2001) of the Creative process as a self-organized,

autopoietic system. The naturalistic case studies including our participant observation, were based on a dual basis of introspective views and results extracted from studies of 6 individuals in their working places.

Our analysis suggests that two interactive, fractal lines move chaotically, towards and in reverse. This is the Creative Helix Model. These two lines start from the Self and the Other (information given and environment), which are interwoven in a fabric constructed of nexus. These nexus depend on the strange attractors of personality and the previous nexus, which in turn react as new attractors, and together with external factors (Other), influence the whole process both during the initial forming and the progress. The fractal construction appears as the result of every step and is given by the underpinned structure, analyzed in the four levels of the creative process (preparation, incubation, illumination, verification) through the thought/action/reflection loop while the entire process is based again on the same pattern. Actions function as verifications of repetitive processes and yield the artwork. As a result, microscopic or macroscopic zooming in and out gives the same result, the fractal icon of the creative process. (Research supported, in part, by the Art and Design Department, Institute of Education, University of London).

The research is based on an introspective view and on results extracted from studies upon the creative processes of the following individuals:Sophi M. Danis: composerGeorgios Miliadis: fashion designerHaris Ladopoulos: sound installation artistYiannis Christakos: painterNiki Konstantinou: digital artistData collection methods: observation, questionnaires, interviews, and video recordingsMethods of Analysis: Qualitative and discourse analysis

KEYWORDS: self-organized - autopoietic systems, fractal constructions, strange attractors, creative processPRESENTATION PREFERENCE: Oral Presentation

AUDIO – VISUAL NEEDS: projector

CONTENTSAbstract …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………….….. 3-4

THE PROCESSA. Initial Conditions: the environment facilitates flow

Introduction

1. Preparation ……..……………………………………………………..…………………… 5-6 Bridging the gap with flow …………………………………………………………….….…... 6 Developing Flow ……………………………………………………………………………... 72. Incubation ………………………………………………………………………………….. 7-9

Towards intuition and flow ………………………………………………………………….. 103. Illumination ………………………………………………………………………….……… 104. Verification …………………………………………………………………………………. 11

B. In-formation of Nexus: the ConstellationIn-formation of nexus ……………………………………………..…………………………………..…. 11-14

Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………………..… 15

Appendix …………………………………………………………………………….…………. 16-17

References ……………………………………………………………………………………… 17-19

2

Creative Process:

a Constellation of Chaotic Nexus

INTRODUCTION“One should look not to the stars for causes of our unfolding,

but to ourselves”

Shakespeare

Not many researches exist concerning the relations between the creative process and the chaos

theory. We can use visual imagery to ‘see’ the fragments and brushstrokes that come together to build

the picture of the double-spiral. One line is attached to the artist, the Self, and the other one to the

information given, the Other, while nexus and nodes build a grid between the two, helping the artists

to ‘go beyond the information given’. The double-spiral appears in loops, which could be labeled for

practical reasons, as preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification, according to Wallas1,

just to study them, without forgetting the very canvas they are drawn on. A cognition-based theory is

still missing. Several researchers tried to define the framework of a creative cognition approach (e.g.

Finke et al., 1996; Gabora, 2002).

Following Miller (2000:213-226), metaphors, as a means for explaining a poorly understood

entity, are based on comparison between the primary and the –better understood- secondary object and

relate the extracted thoughts in a system. These interconnections are not always obvious and may not

even hold. As such,

x (the real creative process) can be replaced by {x} (‘Chaotic Conception’ computer-based

installation, which is an artificial collection of particles based on creative processes’ properties). [x]

will be used as the symbol for the interface, since it is {(x)}. The dissimilation between x and {x} is

referred as the ‘tension’ between them.

The structures of artists’ subjects were generally drawn from decisions from an infinite

number of potential actions, within interplay between the Other/‘real’ world and the Self/artists. We

extracted the patterns lied not in the movements themselves but in the abstractions of the movements.

This hierarchical path, from the very first starting point to the final outcome was constructed from

actions upon discovered cooperative relations between the parts and the entity, from gaps “between

the acts”, decisions and reflections upon all the previous as an interplay between the Self and the

1 Storr, A. The dynamics of perception3

Other (information and environment). The search for a relationship among the information, produced

actions that were “growth”2 starting points for every following micro-path. This procedure was

bridging the gaps in a continuing exchange of feedbacks and decisive “throw-away”/dissipative

experiences, bridging the gaps between actions.

One major starting point can be identified: it is the very first idea. Many other starting points

pre-exist the beginning of every action taken. The first one comes from an external factor – a book, a

song, a person – while the rest rise from the collection and construction of materials, mediums or

ideas in the search of the subtle structure. The number of these specific decisions, launched by choices

or by chances and targeting each brushstroke or action, gives the result of a visual, aural or textual

metaphor.

The process seems to expand in this double-spiral, like a medieval rounded ladder. Every step

could be represented as a loop of the same process of preparation/incubation/illumination/verification.

Additionally, each of these steps contain the process of thought/action/reflection upon the part/unit

and the whole/entity of the subject. The simplicity of the final, autonomous result came from a

laborious struggle to sustain the balance and homeostasis of it.

Finally, I believe that the entropy within the “in-formation”, their relations and the freedom

for any kind and possible form of the results are crucial for allowing the Menon’s paradox3 to emerge.

4

THE PROCESS

A. Initial Conditions: the environment facilitates flowIt is impossible to compartmentalize the creative process of an artist, put it under a

microscope, run tests and present the results found in the analysis. All stages are interweaved and

elaborated in a repetitive way. We will try to follow given constructions, the creative process and

flow, only to facilitate a potential analysis, which in turn is based on their impact on visual elements.

1. PREPARATIONDuring the first starting point, the undelivered artwork is defined as the interactivity between

the information and the artist.

…the creative idea comes from bringing into maximum contact the “problem

specification”, the data, and one’s own store of experience and expertise; allowing these

to resonate together as intimately and as flexibly as possible…4

As individuals, artists approached it differently, according to already organized structures within them

that “attracted” the loop-constructions in the double-spiral and gave them different results even when

they use exactly the same materials:

Plastic unity comes about through a dynamic interaction between an artist’s projections

and the intrinsic qualities of the medium through which the intention is embodied. This

is achieved through the construction of a life-line between ideas and feelings that inhabit

a personal, private world and a chosen medium…5

All artists participating in this research tried to gather any possible information from

dictionaries, magazines, books, the Internet, talked to other people and kept recordings about it,

attempting to present different viewpoints. Even unnoticed details might be connected with the project

even in a “strange” way using an “accidental” approach. The more the information gathered, the more

accurate the decisions they took about the next step. Christophe Domino describes Francis Bacon’s

creative environment:

Bacon’s technique depended on encouraging an accidental element, skillfully and

knowingly setting it up. For this purpose he gathered together the most varied tools and

the most specific materials…even his own cheek, deliberately unshaven in order to

obtain a unique paint effect…6 (my emphasis).

During this stage, experiences like the “throw-away”/dissipative actions as described by John

Cowan7 take place; their role was as important as the decisions/actions towards the process: they

helped to discover and define the approaches to the project, as part of reflection in action8. This

procedure came out of totally unordered material. So to transmit information means to induce order

since total disorder provides a maximum of information. When the disorder is rather the clash of 5

information of uncoordinated orders, it transmits information in order. Following Arnheim’s

syllogism, since entropy grows with the probability of a state of affairs, information increases its

improbability. Total disorder provides a maximum of information that leads to the notion that a

maxim of order is conveyed by a maximum of disorder. As such, information is the first hand material

we need.

BRIDGING THE GAP WITH FLOW

We identify a gap between the preparation stage and the next, incubation stage of the creative

process. Flow is going to be used to bridge this gap.

Flow comes when a person’s attention is completely absorbed from the activity

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1998:53); the practitioner becomes one with the activity and the activity as such

becomes spontaneous, ‘almost autocratic’. Csikszentmihalyi’s results (1998:74) give evidence that

flow activity provides a sense of discovery, it pushes the person to higher levels of performance, it

transforms the self by making it more complex and leads to the growth of the self.

Csikszentmihalyi (1998:74)

Glancing the diagram, boredom and anxiety are negative experiences related to the

individual’s personal skills. By setting a new and more difficult goal that matches her skills, the

practitioner is back in the flow. Most of the time the potential is much greater than the one we think

we have limited ourselves to when building frames of ignorance and inability. Objective conditions

are important to define the level of our skills in order to improve the quality of performance. A1 and

A2 work as ‘growth points’, to maintain the flow, increase creativity through challenging and

improve the skills applied in the activity. Growth points are connected with problematic reasoning and

problem solving.

‘La fantasia tanto è più robusta, quanto è più debole il Raziocinio’

(the weaker reasoning, the stronger the power of poetry)

Benedetto Croce (21, Book I, Elements 36)

6

Developing flow

‘If you wish to gain knowledge of the forms of things, begin with the detail and only

move from on detail to another when you have fixed the first firmly in your memory and become

well acquainted with it’

Leonardo, Codex Trivulzianus (cited in White, 2000:30)

Flow is triggered by given information that comes from the use of sensory skills and

information that challenges our ability to think. The latter are essential since all forms of mental flow

depend on memory, either directly or indirectly (Csikszentmihalyi, 1998:121). Subliminal stimuli may

actually have a greater effect than ones perceived clearly (Claxton, 1997:108).

Developing the ‘autotelic’ self who transforms potentially entropic experience into flow

requires 4 levels (Csikszentmihalyi, 1998:209-23):

1. Setting goals. Goals facilitate monitoring the development and offer sufficient feedback

especially when are flexible enough to become easily modified by the group members.

2. Becoming immersed in the activity. Involvement facilitates withdrawal and leads to

concentration. As such, a great deal of interest activates involvement.

3. Paying attention to what is happening. Involvement leads to concentration and maintenance

of attention in the activity (Isaacson, 1996). Lack of self-consciousness pushes the Self beyond

the limits of individuality and units the person with the activity system. This union increases

the level of complexity.

4. Learning to enjoy immediate experience. At this stage, flow drives the practitioner to

creativity and outstanding performance.

2. INCUBATIONRather than good or bad materials, we support the term skillful or not skillful approach. As

Doll suggested (1003:88) creativity occurs by the interaction of chaos and order, between unfettered

imagination and disciplined skill. The conditions are defined as freedom from outer destruction while

we were thinking, i.e. incubating, a structure of nodes between the materials or the mediums are

revealed. Castoriadis approaches these interrelations between them through Kant, talking about the

form of impressions and for their being brought into relation constructing “a synthesis of

apprehension in intuition”9:

…the shock concerns our relations with “something” already given, whether “external”

or “internal”, whereas the imagination moves autonomously…An image must hold

together, it brings together determinate elements, presentable elements; and these

elements always are found caught up in a certain organization and in a certain order-

9 Claude Levi-Strauss, The Savage Mind7

otherwise, there would be no image, there would simply be chaos…10 (italics by the

author)

The discovery of the hidden relations/nodes between the selected materials, the space, the

mediums, the words and images were the seamless, underpinned canvas of the project. We extracted

the patterns lied not in the movements themselves but in the abstractions of the movements. The

structure appeared by abstracting the “sameness” across multiple occurrences of the same loop, the

stability in the midst of variability. The structure/order reflects the oxymoron, which might be in the

stability of structure and the variability of the process. S/he is now receptive enough to perceive the

indirect consequences between the elements and decide upon their importance and hierarchy as such.

Awareness of this kind of thoughts and feelings is towards the needed, ordered material and their use

as they arise. These states of awareness spread simultaneously to the Self and the Other. This is

connected to the quality of an artist’s mental stages, within the creative process, and facilitates the

ideas to rise as ell as reveals the hidden interdependence, deepening on the artist’s personal (the Self)

experience of reality (the Other).

Following Huxley, one act leads to another by comparison and rejection, extension and

mutation11, reflection and re-introduction the central idea.

Bowers assumes that intuition is closely related to the ability to detect the hidden nexus or

patterns that make sense of seemingly disparate elements. Several stimuli are explored so the

undermine can come in on such patterns before conscious.12 Virginia Woolf assumes “…it is or will

become a revelation of some order…”13.

Intuition tends to work best in situations that are complex or unclear14 and we observe that

multiple pulls on attention interact non-linearly and have the potential to create multifaceted and

organized decisions upon actions. Concomitantly, actions and reflective feedbacks have the potency to

create new solutions, new nexus and according to a famous Bruner’s phrase “go beyond the

information given”.

Guy Claxton shares the same concept of knowledge acquisition; in his book ‘Hare Brain

Tortoise Mind’, he tries to investigate why intelligence increases when you think less, stressing the

powers of the undermind. Contemplative tortoise mind finds intuition while ambiguity, paradox and

the tinkering towards the truth are on the path. In order to improve the quality of performance, high

disciplined mental activity is required, avoiding any lapses in concentration, which will erase it. Clear,

underpinned structures impose order in the non-linear path of knowledge construction and a very

selected range of information, canonical and non-canonical elements are allowed into awareness. As

such, the paradox of control emerges: the sense of control of the activity comes when lacking the 11 In P. Hetherington’s (ed.), Artists in the 1990s, Their Education and Values, Paul Huxley: Confronting the canvas – in the studio and in the tutorial room, p. 7212 G. Claxton, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, p. 6313 Woolf, A sketch of the Past, in H. Gardner, Multiple Intelligences, The Theory in Practice, p.2414 G. Claxton, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, p. 72

8

sense of worry about losing control (Csikszentmihalyi, 1998:58). The possibility rather than the

actuality of control in objective and subjective conditions, allows the entrance to unconscious thought,

frees the activities and gives the participant the opportunity to develop sufficient skills to reduce errors

as close to zero as possible.

Unconscious thought as algorithmic (Penrose cited in Miller, 2000:330) leads to loss of control

and Self-consciousness. Becoming one with the activity is better described as loss of consciousness of

the Self while becoming part of the system of action. In flow, a person is challenged to do her best,

and must constantly improve her skills in order to maintain her interest in the activity itself

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1998:65). Concentration and involvement excludes attention to anything else but

the activity and the sense of time is distorted.

Isaacson suggests that as we drop our consciousness it seems we are free to ‘look in’ without being disturbed, not thinking about the outcome but enjoying the moment, becoming one with the ‘doing’ (1996:12, 79).

Isaacson discovers a gap between the Self we identify with and the Observing Self (1996:75).

The Observer has to be detached from its own identification, in a Selfless state. Without the Observer

acts themselves are neutral since the Observer realizes the interdependence upon conditions, including

the Selfless self-referential state the person is in. In this process, higher order thinking (Resnick, 1987)

is disturbed by anti-thoughts interference (Isaacson, 1996). They set up their own processes –tension

in the body, stress in the mind. In order to keep the flow, aspiration, firmness, joy, and moderation are

our antidotes to anti-thoughts. The Observing Self exists in the first two parts of the circle

thought/reflection/action, while the Self cooperates to drug the ideas into the Real world in the form of

actions. From now on, we are going to use the word ‘Self’ referring to both interacting states.

The unfolding of a transcendent vision of reality surpasses all our usual categories of thought.

We move directly to the heart of reality, to unveil all pre-described particles, to come to know things

as they really are, in a vision that includes all parts at once.

Towards Intuition and Flow

Intuition is less likely to be ‘teachable’ and understood because it cannot be identified and

described but can be seen in its results. Miller gives several examples of scientific and artistic

outcomes derived from intuition (Miller, 2000, 2002). Back in the 17 th century, René Descartes

understands intuition as ‘not the fluctuating testimony of the senses nor the misleading judgment that

proceeds from the blundering constructions of imagination but the conception which an unclouded

and attentive mind gives us so readily and distinctly that we are wholly freed from doubt about that

which we understand’ (cited in Arnheim, 1986:15).

In 1801, Pestalozzi (cited in Miller, 2000:47) defined intuition15 as ‘fixed the highest, supreme

principle of instruction in recognition of visualisation (intuition) as the absolute foundation of

9

knowledge’ (Miller, 2000:47). Intuition is closely related to the state of flow and derives from it

(Csikszentmihalyi, 1998).

New information given could change the whole direction of the process and could lead the

process on a very different path, in a constructive and de-constructive or even destructive way (as a

butterfly effect). This sensitive dependence is not only displayed during the initial conditions but

within the entire procedure as well. Interactivity within the artwork (e.g. colours talking to each other

as in a concert or using interactive programmes or java language for computer-based projects) would

let the viewer construct his/her own mental projection.

However, the structure of the system and the system itself has the characteristics of a

deterministic one, even if one of its characteristics is the sensitivity to the initial conditions. A slight

change in the starting point of each loop or in between the initial conditions and the feedbacks

(usually we have an immediate, mental application of the loop using visualization) in every micro-part

of the process (the environment, the materials, the cause of the action, even a word that we heard

beforehand) can lead to significantly different outcomes. Therefore, we cannot use the term “random”

or “mess” or “disorder” as there is a sense of pattern, order or structure.

3. ILLUMINATIONA chaotic nexus environment leads to the goal of going ‘beyond the information given’.

Intuition is the vehicle, the sudden realization of the deep structures of the problems, which supplies

the participants with the view of each component within the overall structure simultaneously. Using

visual imagery, it can be represented as Newton’s wheel of colours: everything beams up to a ray of

light. The coloured particles find their place in hierarchy as a single realization the parts and the whole

at the same time. The realization of the ‘whole’ is closely related to the gestalt process16. Free will and

determinism do occur in an interactive way.

4. VERIFICATIONThe process then could be described as a tree and the branches of it are images of the same,

latter tree: the loops of the matrix of schemata functioning in coordination hide behind the results and

give the artists the phenomenological approaches they conceive with their sensory-apparatus. These

approaches are the actions on the canvas, which, if taken all together give us the whole picture: the

tree. ”. If we are framed in the specific entity, and this entity might be defined as the person, the

environment, the materials etc, then this set of processes are patterns of and in the entity. Causes and

conditions, a nexus of factors are identified and labeled, completely under control, without being

influenced by irrelevant conditions, even through our own ‘anti-thoughts’. The analysis in terms of

interdependence reveals the nexus i.e. the effects but not the causes.

10

B. In-formation of Nexus: the ConstellationOrder arises continuously from formlessness (Doll, 1993:101). In a series of subsequent

decisions the grid of the structure arises from possibilities to find order from total disorder. The effort

to formulate and shape conceptions from new stimuli is framed according to our already organized

internal structure. The interrelations that construct the underpinned structure concerning the subject

come out as intuition and allow us to gather material based on our own relations between the subject

and the material and the interchange between the Self and the Other: “…the mind is constantly going

and coming from Self to Other; what its innermost being produces is modified by a peculiar

awareness of the judgment of others…”17.

The first concept we meet, entropy, is a measure of the disorder or unavailability of energy

within a closed system. Generally, entropy means a process in which order deteriorates with the

passage of time and it is a measure for the amount of disorder or 'chaos' in a system. The higher the

entropy, the more the information in our case, the more chaotic the system is. Chaotic systems exhibit

irregular, unpredictable behaviour. The boundary between linear and chaotic behaviour is often

characterized by period doubling, followed by quadrupling, etc. creating fractal constructions

(Abarbanel et al. 1993; Hilborn 1994). Homeostasis is a term we use to describe the constant state of

the internal environment. Both processes and activities help Homeostasis to be illustrated by functions

that constantly monitor a system and make adjustments as needed to maintain equilibrium.

Every action of the above produces new actions18; defining our procedure as an autopoietic

organism, created on its own, inventing itself and moving on the paths of the stages of the creative

process in a way that could be either forward or in reverse. The creative process as such, behaves as a

self-organized autopoietic19 dynamic system. Howard Hodgkin said that his “…pictures really finish

themselves…”20 Artistry then, (a word I borrow from D. Schon), in the creative process might include

the feature of adaptively fitting cognition to changing contexts during the process, as a continuous, all-

embracing impermanent flux, just like life. Ben Goertzel introduces the theory of creative subself

dynamics “whose sole purpose for existence is the creative construction of forms”21.Obviously

unpredictability is displayed concerning the actual result of the process, since we get results depended

on strange attractors, already given structures and environments (external or internal) that attract a

specific result. The strange attractor of personality (Self) pre-exists the initial conditions and influence

11

the creative path in the first place, before the Observing Self; therefore amidst the millions of

possibilities we have for an action, we choose our own.

Figure 1. Creative process loops within the mind of the individual (Self)

In the next part, I will try to build a scheme to represent the nexus between the Self and the

Other. In figure 2 it is a simple representation of the two parts and in figure 3 it is elaborated on a

double-spiral.

Figure 2

The next scheme will describe the evolution of the process functioning from nonlinear

dynamic interactions and could be seen if we hold the first two edges of it and we try to stretch it, then

we might get a simplified 2d, fractal, self-similar picture as follows:

12

Figure 3. Interactive grid between the Self and the Other as a process in continuo

The game between the Self and the Other starts in entropy. Growth points behave as ‘small

disturbances over time which lead to major changes’ (Lorentz, 1963). When new information comes

into the system, it creates disequilibrium that acts as positive force. The dynamics of information -

dynamics describes the ability of change- exhibit chaotic behaviour, continuing in building the chaotic

nexus to maintain equilibrium i.e. homeostasis. Ideas are explored and allowed to lead to other ideas,

in trajectories that evolve in parallel expanding through ‘growth points’ in a form of the double-

spiral. Piaget (1971:13) is one of those who saw this process of evolution as following:

Cognitive schemata imply no absolute beginning but are built up by a progression of

equilibrations and autoregulations… the organism as a whole preserves its autonomy and, at

the same time, resists entropic decay.

Davies (1988: 82) supports the idea that entities ‘organise themselves on a global scale and

execute cooperative behaviour’. As described above, the behaviour of the Self derives from the actual

search between the thought (the space of hypothesis and the mental representation of it), the action

13

(the space of experiment) and the reflection upon the latter. Homeostasis is the last part of non-linear

dynamics of intentionally driven systems, stabilizes the system and reveals the final outcome.

Using the two whirlpool penetrating views behind the clusters of the spirals, and knowing the

underpinned and organized path, we might predict the frame of the result/artwork but not the result

itself. Journalist: What is a musical score now?

John Cage: That is a good question.

Journalist: Is it a fixed relationship of parts?

John Cage: Of course not; that would be insulting.

We observe that the creative process behaves as a nonlinear, complex, dynamic system22. In

the creative process’ path, each result, in every single real time moment, communicates, interacts and

works as a feedback to the whole process, suggesting the emergence of a dynamic system. This

interrelated process of each feature reflects the complexity and the matrix of the underpinned

structure, the loops of the spiral, and the order out of chaos.

The context sensibility of the interpretations of the each research results suggests multiple

interacting forces that form relations. These various interrelationships help the system to stabilize

while depending on multiple stable attractors as described (some of them stronger and more stable

than others).

The paradox is observed as the deterministic approach itself is connected to the contextual

forces/relations that might be defined as the infinite set of all processes within the process and

everything that is located in this “in-betweenness. These approaches could not depend on static

images or tokens but they are associated in a dynamic way, relocating the process after every loop of

thought-action-reflection.

I’ll have the creaking, gushing skeleton of the whole thing. Then I can write slowly,

rewriting each chapter… if I can ever find a subtle structured style…

Sylvia Plath23

14

Summary

In the states of flow, the search for potential order is depended on several strange attractors so to

form itself, in a lively exchange between requirements, knowledge, intentions, means, materials, all

mental and instrumental things. These elements function as a sieve that reveals the nexus in a dialectic

framework of the unities and the entity.

Overall, we need the appropriate conditions to enter flow and intuition. The strange attractors of

personality, states of consciousness, material, pre-framed conditions of the working space or

reflections depending on all the aforementioned and not only, attract the following:

Our experimental reorganizations suggest that the more information we collect about the

subject the more possibilities arise for forming results (‘order out of chaos’). This indicates the

need to increase the entropy of the environment under controlled conditions. Order arises

continuously from formlessness; higher levels of complexity arise from lower levels.

Changes must occur until a fully subjective constellation of chaotic and interactive nexus is

attained, built on growth points

Definite constraints arrest relations for a dynamic configuration of the previous to keep the

construction subjectively stable, harmonic, the homeostasis24 of it. Complexity arises from

unformed mass and leads to self-organisation.

The more the transition is speed up, the less for self-organisation to work (Doll, 1993:103).

The result artwork stands free from all the previous relations that helped it to exist beyond

information given.

The last result agrees with Hayels (1990:170) opinion about the correlation between the Self

and the Other:

The fundamental assumption of chaos theory by contrast [to Newtonian paradigm] is

that the individual unit does not matter. What does matter are recursive symmetries

between levels of the system… The regularities of the system emerge not from

knowing about the individual units but from understanding correspondence across

scales.

The question that arises is whether this search for relations is a conscious or an unconscious one;

Ben Shahn believes that “…everything is consciously connected after realizing the precious action in

a situation that either happen by coincidence or he is unable to say!…”25 We found that it starts from

15

the willing consciousness, creates a state of flow and continues in self-construction by building a

constellation of nexus in the unconsciousness.

I tried to elucidate the experiential creative process and not to explain it. My perspective moved

from a structuralistic view to one of process. Much work remains to be done in testing the creative

process in controlled laboratory situations in order to get more scientific results.

Can we afford to no exhibit curiosity?

16

Appendix Double-spiral: The grid of interactions between the Self and the Other (environment).

Strange Attractors: Chaos is centered on the concept of the strange attractor. Watch the flow of

water from you faucet as you turn the water on to give faster and faster outpour; you will see activity

from smooth delivery to gushing states. These various kinds of flow represent different patterns to

which the flow is attracted. The feedback process is the feedback displayed in most natural systems in

nature. There are four basic kinds of feedback or cycles a system can display: these are the

attractors. Tsonis gives the definition of attractors as "a limit set that collects trajectories".

The four kinds of attractors are:

1. Point attractor, such as a pendulum swinging back and forth and eventually stopping at a point.

The Attractor may come as a point, in which case, it gives a steady state where no change is

made.

2. Periodic attractor, just add a mainspring to the pendulum to compensate for friction and the

pendulum now has a limited cycle in its phase space. The periodic attractor portrays processes

that repeat themselves.

3. Torus attractor, picture walking on a large doughnut, going over, under and around its outside

surface area, circling, but never repeating exactly the same path you went before. The torus

attractor depicts processes that stay in a confined area but wander from place to place in that

area. (These first three attractors are not associated with Chaos theory because they are fixed

attractors).

4. Strange attractor, this attractor deals with the three-body problem of stability. The strange

attractor shows processes that are stable, confined and yet never do the same thing twice.

Artistry: is an exercise of intelligence, a kind of knowing, though different in crucial respects from

our standard model of professional knowledge. (D. Schon in Educating the Reflective Practitioner,

1987, p. 13)

In-formation: as it appears on the Internet, connecting people and the relations between them through

a grid of weaved nodes

In-formation as we form our expressions using art. Since the cyberculture and visual literacy are

expanding and virtually become our digital selves, we create and then use evolutionary ways to

express our feelings and ideas

In-formation as the relationship between different parts of a system (while system can be defined as

the understanding of the relationship between a set of variables) that react in this “in-betweenness”

17

In-formation as multicultural, multifaceted and global view with a chaotic approach of our lives

(chaotic describes the narrowly underpinned structure of our same lives and the infinite possibilities to

take our chances into this paradox) and lastly,

In-formation as the forming of strong expressions we would like to create using language and the

Internet.

References ◙ Abarbanel, H. D. I., R. Brown, J. J. Sidorowich, and L. Sh. Tsimring, The analysis of observed

chaotic data in physical systems, Rev. Mod. Phys., 65, 1331--1392, 1993.

◙ Abraham, F.D. & Gilgen, A.R. Chaos Theory in Psychology (edit) Praeger Publishers, Westport,

USA 1995.

◙ Arnheim, R. Entropy and Art. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles 1971.

◙ Castoriadis, C. World in Fragments, Writings on Politics, Society, Psychoanalysis, and the

Imagination.Edited and Translated by Curtis, D. A. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California

1997.

◙ Csikszentmihalyi, M. Flow: The Psychology of Happines. London, Sydney, Aukland,

Johannesburg: Rider, 1998 (First Published 1992).

◙ Claxton, G. Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why Intelligence Increases when You Think Less. Fourth

Estate Ltd, London 1997.

◙ Claxton, G. (1999) Wise Up: The Challenge of Lifelong Learning London: Bloomsbury.◙ Croce, Benedetto Aesthetics as Science of Expression and General Linguistics. New York:

Noonday, 1993.

◙ Davies, P. (1988). The Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries in Nature’s Creative Ability to Order the

Universe. New York: Simon & Schuster.

◙ The Dalai Lama A Flash of Lighting in the Dark of Light. Shambala Dragon Editions, India, 1994.

◙ Doll, W. (1993). A Post-Modern Perspective on Curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.

◙ Gabora, L. (2002) Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying the Creative Process. In Proceedings of

Creativity and Cognition 4 (Oct. 13-16, Loughborough, UK), 2002.

◙ Gardner, H. Multiple Intelligences, The Theory in Practice. Basic Books, New York 1993.

◙, Ghiselin , B. The Creative Process. (editor) University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles

1952.

◙ Goertzel, B. From Complexity to Creativity. Plenum Press, New York 1997

http://www.goertzel.org/books/complex/ch14.html last accessed 06.06.02.

◙ Graham-Dixon, A. Howard Hodgkin. Thames & Hudson, London 1994.

◙ Hayles, N. K. (1990). Chaos Bound. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

18

◙ Hetherington, P. Artists in the 1990s, Their Education and Values. Ed. Tate Gallery Publications,

London 1994.

◙ Hilborn, R.C. Chaos and Nonlinear Dynamics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

◙ Isaacson, S. The Principles of Yoga. Thorsons, London, 1996.

◙ Kauffman, Stuart A. The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution. New

York: Oxford University Press. 1993. P. 178.

◙ Köhler, W. The place of value in a world of facts. New Amer. Library, New York & Toronto 1966.

◙ Kukil, K. (ed) The Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950 – 1962. Faber & Faber, London 2000.

◙ Levi-Strauss, C.. The Savage Mind. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1968.

◙ Lorenz, E.N. The Essence of Chaos. University of Washington Press, Washington 1999, 3rd edition.

◙ Miller, A.I. Insights of Genius. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London: The MIT Press, 2000.

◙ Miller, A.I. Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time and the Beauty that Causes Havoc. New York: Basic

Books, 2001.

◙ Moyles, J.R The Excellence of Play (edit). Open University Press, London 1994, 7th Edition.

◙ Negreponte, N., Being Digital. Hobber & Stoughton, London 1995.

◙ Penrose, R., The Emperor’s New Mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1989.

◙ Penrose, R., Shadows of the Mind. Vintage, London 1995.

◙ Plato. The Meno. (W.K.C. Guthrie, trans.) Penguin Books, London 1956.

◙ Prentice, R. Learning to Teach: A Conversational Exchange. Edited be Prentice, R. Teaching Art &

Design, Addressing Issues and Identifying Directions. Cassel, New York 1995, reprinted 1998.

◙ Resnick, Lauren. Education and Learning to Think. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1987.◙ Rogers, C.R. Towards a theory of Creativity. Edited by Vernon, P.E. Creativity. Penguin Books

Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England 1970.

◙ Schon, D. A. Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Jossey-Bass Inc., San Francisco 1987.

◙ Storr, A. The Dynamics of Perception. Cecker & Warburg, London 1972.

◙ Soulis, W., Combs, A. Nonlinear Dynamics in Human Behavior (edit.). World Scientific Publishing

Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore 1996.

◙ Tomas, V. Creativity in the Arts. Prentice hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 1964.

◙ Tsonis, Anastasios A. Chaos: From Theory to Applications. (New York: Plenum Press. 1992).

◙ Turner, L. A Guide to Meditation. Parragon, China, 2002.

◙ Vernon, P.E. (ed.), Creativity – Selected Readings. Penguin Modern Psychology Series,

Harmondsworth, 1970.

19

‘Creative Process: a Constellation of Chaotic Nexus’

‘The Whirlpool Model’Niki Lambropoulos, London Metropolitan University

…as imagination bodies forthThe form of things unknown, the poet’ penTurns them to shapes, and gives the airy nothingA local habitation and a name

(Shakespear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

Subjests

Sophi M. Danis: composerGeorgios Miliadis: fashion designerHaris Ladopoulos: sound installation artistYiannis Christakos: painterNiki Konstantinou: digital artist

Data collection methodsobservation, questionnaires, interviews and video recordings

Methods of AnalysisQualitative and discourse analysis based on Grounded Theory Methodology

20

LITERATURE REVIEW

CREATIVE PROCESSWallas,

1920 Preparation Incubation Illumination Verification

Martindale, 1975 Application Incubation Inspiration Elaboration

Finke,1996 Generation Exploration Exploration Evaluation

Csikszentmihalyi, 1998 Flow Flow Flow Flow

BRAIN ACTIVITYHeidegger,

1955 Calculative Meditative Meditative Calculative

Claxton, 1997

D (Deliberation)-Mode

Low-focus Mode Low-focus Mode D-Mode

THINKING TECHNIQUES

De Bono, 1973-1992

Lateral thinking (self-organised systems: escape from

local optimum to global optimum)

Parallel thinking – Six Thinking Hats l. White Hat: facts & figures, (what information do we have and need to get?) 2. Red Hat: emotions, intuition, feelings (how do we feel about the situation?) 3. Black Hat: judgement (does this fit the facts?)4. Yellow Hat: advantages, benefits (how is it a good thing to do?) 5. Green Hat: explorations, alternatives, etc. (are there different ways?) 6. Blue Hat: thinking about thinking (control of the thinking process)

Linear Approaches of the Creative Process

We do not suggest a new Creative Process Theory.

We suggest the Whirlpool Model as the Creative Sequence’s non-linear, fractal movement

21

from initial conditions to homeostasis.

The Whirlpool ModelSectional View (I)

Action is the Production of New Stimulus as Growth Point of Change

22

Merge of the Self and the Other

(Subject + Object)

23

The Whirlpool Model Sectional View (II)

Extension of the 3D spiral movement of an interactive grid

between the Self and the Other as a fractal sequence in continuo

24

RESULTS

Initial Conditions

Initial conditions of chaotic stimuli replaced by growth points of change.

Same stimuli, as potential same initial conditions, ended in different products depended

on subjects’ personality, interests and the medium of their work.

The more the collection of the ‘information given’, the more the possibilities to form

growth points from pre-inventive structures.

The points of change and action built up as growth points, where fractal lines tended to

start repeating themselves.

Merge of the Self and the Other enables more stimuli to emerge (freedom from existed

patterns).

Creative Process Sequence

Order derived continuously from formlessness.

Higher levels of complexity derived from lower levels.

Complexity that derived from unformed mass, displayed self-organization.

The more the transitions were speed up, the less self-organization occurred (time

pressure).

Loss of sense of time, concentration on the moment.

Products went ‘beyond information given’.

25

The Whirlpool Model

Going beyond patterns: Creativity exists in the diversity of chaos and system

Initial Conditions

Initial Conditions exist within the preparation stage (following a specific ritual, gathering

information, discussion, visualization of the outcome, throw-away actions etc.).

Initial Conditions function as pre-inventive structures (development of techniques and

practical methods in order to trigger and maintain stimuli CHAOS ≠ EXISTED PATTERNS).

Chaotic Initial Conditions provide a field to ‘play’ and enable brainstorming (diverse

stimuli reveal hidden associations; Osborn, 1963).

Increasing entropy in a controlled environment develops diversity between the existed

patterns.

Creative Process Sequence

Attractors of personality and interests (as internal motivational factors) act against

productivity loss.

Different foci become active at the same time (intuition).

The personal selection of the stimuli sequence lead to ‘intimate engagement’ (Levine,

1987) and flow maintenance through affirmation.

Internal and external motives help in flow maintenance.

The pressure of time produces mental blocks (Finke, 1996; Claxton, 1997).

Tunneled attention and anti-thoughts resist mental blocks (Claxton, 1997) .

Visualization of the potential outcomes (Miller, 1996, 2002) establish intention.

26

The Whirlpool Model

APPLICATIONS

The Whirlpool Model can be implemented in both ‘content curriculum’ and ‘learning

curriculum’.

Non-linear stimuli in ‘learning curriculum’ enable a climate for innovative thinking.

Encouragement and confidence produce stable anti-thoughts against mental blocks.

Learning in the creative sequence leads to mental transformation.

The Whirlpool Model can be implemented in Creative Artificial Intelligence.

The Whirlpool Model can be implemented in Innovation Technology:

From Information and Communication to Technology (behaviouristic approach of software

engineering) we move to Innovation Technology (smart machines to help us create ideas based

on non-linear processes of organization of information in open-ended learning environments).

27

Notes

2 “Growth points … are located at the interface between intention and expressive media…” R. Prentice, Teaching Art and design, p. 12 3 Plato, Meno: “…but how will you look for something when you don’t in the least know what it is? How on earth are you going to set up something you don’t know as the object of your search? To put in another way, even if you come right up against it, how will you know that what you have found is the thing you didn’t know?…”[Plato, 1956, p. 128.]4 G. Claxton, Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind, p. 725 R. Prentice, Teaching Art and design, p. 126 C. Domino, Francis Bacon: Taking reality by surprise, p.807 “…which are exploratory yet in which where they discover more meaningfully through actually being involved in the new experience, what it is that they want to concentrate on first…”John Cowan in Artists in the 1990’: Their Education and Value, edited by Paul Hetherington, p. 298 “…reflection in action is smoothly integrated into ongoing performance…” D.A. Schon, Educating the Reflective Practitioner, p. 3010 Castoriadis, C. World in fragments, p. 26015 In German, intuition is Anschauung, which can be translated equally well as ‘visualisation’. (Miller, 2000:45).16 The whole is more or different from the sum of the parts.17 Paul Valery, The Course in Poetics: First Lesson, in Brewster Ghiselin, The Creative Process, p.9518 “…each variable necessarily reflects to some extent the influence of all others; conversely each variable influences many others…” Sabelli, Carlson-Sabelli, Patel etc. ‘Psychocardiological Portraits: A Clinical Application of Process Theory’ in the book Chaos Theory in Psychology edited by Abraham & Gilgen19 Combs. A., The Process of Consciousness, from the book Chaos Theory in Psychology, edited by Frederick David Abraham & Albert R. Gilgen20 Quoted in “Howard Hodgkin interviewed by David Sylvester” in Howard Hodgkin: Forty Paintings: 1973-84, The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1984 from the book “Howard Hodgkin” by Andrew Graham-Dixon21 Goertzel, B. From Complexity to Creativity http://www.goertzel.org/books/complex/ch14.html22 The “system” can be defined as the understanding of the relationship between a set of interacting variables.23 Kukil, K. (ed) The Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950 – 1962, p. 27324 Maintenance of a dynamically stable state within a system by means of internal regulatory processes that counteract external disturbance of the equilibrium (found in Oxford Dictionary)25 Tomas, V. Creativity in the Arts, p. 20

28