Themes The Creative Spark

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How are we inspired? Where might our imaginations take us? What does creativity look like in its wildest form? These clever, invigorating speakers plumb the wellspring of invention.

Writer, director and producer J.J. Abrams' exuberant talk explores the nature of storytelling, the changing face of filmmaking and the possibility that mystery is more important than knowledge. Artist and programmer John Maeda shares stories and observations about what complexity has taught him about simplicity, and how their relationship inspires him. Meanwhile, designer Philippe Starck explains how his iconic creations come by way of the primordial soup.

Golan Levin shows off his "software art": spellbinding audiovisual experiences that incorporate eerie sonic textures and tangles of color that move with life of their own. Pianist Jennifer Lin, just 14 when she performed at TED, confects stunning, virtuosic compositions on the fly. And illustrator Maira Kalman considers the role of knowledge (or lack thereof) in the creative process -- and concludes that daydreaming is the best job on Earth.

Don't miss game designer Will Wright's preview of Spore, in which players control the evolution of custom-designed critters -- and colonize a galaxy. Or the dancers of Pilobolus, who suggest a mutating organism that grows mouths and legs, slithers, drips like oil and turns itself inside out. And be sure to visit actor Anna Deavere Smith, who delves into history, crime, race and culture by channeling the voices of four authentic American characters.

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Discuss this theme: The Creative Spark

  • Bruce LaDuke – January 1 2008

    Thought (or knowledge or logic or definition) is structured and this structure is behind every thing humans 'create.' Humans don't create something from nothing--that is magic. What humans do is rearrange their mental reality to create some new mental structure, and then they might apply that concept by rearranging their physical reality to create, e.g., a product, a service, or a piece of artwork. In rearranging' their mental reality, we humans always leverage one of these three processes:

    1. Structure or define (e.g., mind mapping)
    2. Reach out for new mental structure (e.g., questioning)
    3. Change structural direction (e.g., brainstorming or lateral thinking)

    These are the core processes behind all creativity, innovation, and knowledge creation. The key to understanding creativity is really to understand the question--what it is and how we leverage it to create new mental and physical things. I explain the question at http://www.anti-knowledge.com.

  • victoria aenlle – September 12 2007

    lots more discussion please!

  • Carrie Blakley – July 7 2007

    The 'creative spark', based upon what I have seen here, and my own personal life experiences, can literally flow from any 'base point'. For some people, their spark may ingite from something very traumatic that has happened within their lives, or the lives of people close to them. For others, it may be sparked by the grand internal need and want to fulfill a personal dream they've had since childhood. Yet, there are others that have simply gained their sparks from visualizing something in a cocktail napkin.

    Regardless of the starting point that ignites the sparks of creativity, the end results are almost always the same. Better living for man kind. Top line technology that enables us to give more back to the communities in which we live. More funding for programs that help those in need, so that the means by which we live are evened out a bit more. Architecture that is both appealing and maneuverable, so that people from all walks of life can benefit from these buildings and works of architectural art.

    Sometimes, it's a teacher who has a spark ignited by one of their students...thus giving them new ideas as to how to teach better, more efficiently, more advanced or more detailed. Dreams, thoughts, ideas, movies, any form of media, animals...every single aspect of this world constitutes the potential to be a creative spark that ignites the genius within someone's mind and soul, helping to push them just a bit farther, in order to obtain their goals and watch their dreams turn into realities.

    While I have not seen the movie 'Waitress', I can fully relate to the movie's contents, and agree.... creative sparks, come from anyplace, and anytime and through any means. It is up to each individual person to decide how that genius and creativity is to be used. :)

  • John Reuter – July 6 2007

    I just watched the movie "Waitress" last night. Stick with me on this one, I promise it will come around. The film focuses on a waitress who makes amazing pies inspired by (and named for) the events in her life.

    Why I’m writing about this here rather than at IMDB.com is that I wondered if the sequences where they showed her translating an experience into a pie might relate to the process of creativity generally (and particularly the creativity on display here).

    The film shows how a personal experience can create a “creative spark” that can grow into the blaze of a bold and beautiful idea. In the case of “Waitress,” a new pie recipe, but it might just as easily be a bold new building or a clever new soda can design (as discussed in these talks).

    If you’ve seen the movie and at least some of these talks, I’d be curious to know what you think.

  • Carrie Blakley – June 27 2007

    Each and every single thing ever created by the hands of humankind began as a single thought. If each of us is capable of such thought, then each of us is also capable of such creative grandness.

  • fleur wang – June 2 2007

    In other country, education is not as ideal as college teaching.
    Even hierarchy subjects are not taught properly in western countries. This is partly because the teachers thought they are academically superior to kids and became stale, never try to update their learning.
    The school nowadays are more like babysitting.