Seminars

INSPIRATION AND THE CREATIVE SPARK

8 and 9 October 2011
The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
School of Oriental and African Studies
10 Thornhaugh Street, London WC1

Why do ideas sometimes come flooding in and at other times become blocked? This seminar will examine the nature of inspiration. Looking across history, cultures, companies and individuals, it will investigate how we have ideas and asks if there such a thing as external inspiration?

Is the impression of receiving an idea from outside a function of how our brains work? Do artistic and scientific breakthroughs have more in common than we generally think?

We will examine the moment when the spark connects…and look at ways we can all stimulate our creativity.

Neurologist Adam Zeman explores the roots of creative imagination in the workings of the human brain, highlighting particularly our highly developed capacity to escape from the here and now.
Novelist Shamila Kamsie asks: How does fiction happen? How do you start from a single image and end up with a 350 page novel? She will lay bare the tension between the need to create within a structure, while avoiding the formulaic and making something fresh and new.
BBC creative director Simon Elmes talks about the basic building blocks of creativity and how we can foster a climate where ideas and innovation can flourish in a corporate environment.
Psychologist Ilona Roth examines the strange paradox of how the closed and repetitive world of those with autism can often produce startlingly creative talents and asks: what does autism tell us about human imagination?
Entrepreneur and inventor Greg Fraley borrows from the world of improvisational comedy to bring us a practical session to help us make creative choices in our lives.
Professor of medieval literature Elizabeth Archibald asks how we can explain the sudden flourishing of creativity in twelfth century Europe that produced the chivalric romances of King Arthur and the ideals of courtly love.
Engineer and musician David Kayrouz gives a short practical session to show how we can enlarge the landscape of our imagination.
Artist Susan Aldworth looks for her Muse and talks about the nature of inspiration in relation to the worlds of neuroscience and philosophy.

The seminar will run from 10am till 4pm on Saturday 8th October and from 10am till 3.15pm on Sunday 9th October

Click here to book tickets >>

Past Seminars

Why do we leave it so late? - David Canter
more info >>

Scheherazade and the global mutation of teaching stories - Robert Irwin
more info >>

Counter-Intuition - Dr. Kevin Byron
more info >>

see full list of new publications >>