Art, entrepreneurship and the future of work
The post-industrial, creative and entrepreneurial society is emerging. Entrepreneurs are like artists and artists are like entrepreneurs. They both “turn nothings into somethings”. Artists give a form to ideas that for some other people might be nothing more than vague thoughts or passing emotions. Art is the most efficient way of creating novel associations, enriching connections and new, sometimes radical, openings. Art creates suggestions for fresh ways of defining the world we live in.
For an artist, everything you do feeds into everything you do. In this kind of iterative learning the task is to know what you should keep and develop and what you should let go. The process of creation is experimental and continuous. It is about learning and searching. All artists are eager students.
Curiosity shapes their work as much as any tool. It is very action oriented, artists do things, artists make things, and the only person from whom you need permission is yourself. It is a world where you don’t work for a company, but you may work with a company. Incentive systems are also changing. The tokenized financial systems of the future are going to recognize and reward the creative majority and not mainly the executive minority.
Creativity is a social and political tool. As it is about expressing ourselves, it gives a voice and a form to democracy. As it is a platform for ideas, it is an agent of change. As it raises new questions, it is about the very thing that makes us human — imagination.
Often it is not easy.
For a period of time Monet and Cezanne had their paintings rejected by the jurors of the official Salon in Paris. This meant that their art could not reach the buying public. They were both considered failures. But after a few years they were praised as champions and innovators, whose paintings were seen as some of the most important works of art produced in the modern era. Who, then, failed? Failure in the context of creativity is not the same as making an error, nor is it necessarily about being wrong about something.
When it comes to entrepreneurship and creativity, failure is part of the very fabric of building something new. This essentially makes the whole concept of failure meaningless. But there may of course be a personal feeling of failure, which is often an unavoidable part of the creative process. Monet and Cezanne did not cease to paint when they were publicly rejected. They continued. Not because they were indifferent, but because they were so committed to their art. They had courage.
Courage is a concept we normally associate with conflict, the Davids overcoming the Goliaths. But there is another form of courage, the courage to think for yourself. This is what artists and entrepreneurs do, without being sure whether the response you get will be positive, and not knowing where having a voice of your own will lead you. We have an inclination towards self-doubt, particularly when it comes to creativity. Nobody wants to risk humiliation in public. Because of this, fear has put a handbrake on creativity for too many people. Creativity takes courage, as Henri Matisse said.
Fostering creativity is a genuine goal for absolutely everyone in the post-industrial society. A creative economy needs individuals with the courage and capacity to think, learn and live imaginatively. We need people who can conceive ideas and who can realize them.
Art often stands apart from everyday life. It is too often a pastime and an indulgence. We must redefine the role of art. In the future, art may not mean only something we contemplate from a distance, but an approach to life and an experience we possess.
We should treat art and aesthetic experience as topics of deep philosophical concern when we seek the ways to a post-industrial society or when we talk about the future of human work. Art is more than something extra in life to be enjoyed and appreciated. Maybe more schools in the future are going to be art schools and more offices creative studios.
.
Credits: John Dewey and Will Gompertz
