Where do creative ideas come from? NINA GONZALEZ-PARK
Image of artist painting ‘Palenque’ in her studio, October 2022 Photo courtesy of Adrian Maidman
Where do creative ideas come from? What do creatives mean by being “in the zone” or in a “flow state”? Although the current cognitive paradigm proposes that creativity is unique to higherlevel cognitive processes – a result of analysis and evaluation built on experience and memory – it is not supported by the lived experience of creatives. Rather, it may be necessary to expand investigation outside of the consciousness/ unconsciousness and into what N. Katherine Hayles calls ‘the cognitive nonconscious’. This is a cognitive level shared by all living organisms, where the sensorial information from the environment is directly processed, functioning in humans like a supercomputer within the mind. Within this framework, it is possible that creativity originates in nonconscious cognition and then is processed by consciousness and unconsciousness. However, more rigorous research is needed to shift the current paradigm.
‘Palenque’ represents the moment when a giant elephant ear plant is about to unfurl, a moment of potential energy transforming into kinetic energy, of possibilities unfolding.
PALENQUE NINA GONZALEZ-PARK
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