European Creativity Project
Emotional Network Logo / Graphics: Hermann Vaske
The "Why are you creative?" project presents the inspirations and motivations of the world’s most creative people in a wide variety of fields, including art, design, architecture, film, literature, photography, fashion, music, politics, science, business and religion, comparing the creativity of each individual.
The project is a journey of discovery into the multi-faceted realms of creativity - artistic, intellectual, philosophical, political and scientific. From Jim Jarmusch to Roman Polanski, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Nelson Mandela, from Helmut Newton to Herbert Grönemeyer, from Bono to David Bowie, from Salman Rushdie to Günter Grass, from Christoph Schlingensief to Vivienne Westwood and from Stephen Hawking to the Dalai Lama. They have all been asked the question "Why are you creative?" and their answers will be on view in a special exhibition.
To open the first exhibition, RUHR.2010 will be inviting the public to Zollverein world heritage site to celebrate the world première of the "Why are you creative?" film. A project book and website show that creativity is not just about bringing new ideas and developments into the world, but that everyone can be creative. The project motivates people to address their own creativity. It is therefore anything but a project for the passive observer. Everyone can take part. A total of 5.3 million people live in the Ruhr Metropolis. To coincide with the opening of the exhibition, each one will receive a sheet of paper on which just one question is written: "Why are you creative?"
The best answers from the inhabitants of the Ruhr Metropolis will be put on show in a second exhibition with the slogan "Create your own exhibition". If only a quarter of the population takes part, this would be the largest concerted creative event of all time! After 2010 the "House of Creativity" will accommodate the permanent exhibition of all exhibits, films and archives - with the opportunity for everyone to continue playing a part.
"Why are you creative?" calls on all those living in the Ruhr to recognise their own creative talents. Without name tags it is not possible to say for certain which response comes from the painter Georg Baselitz and which from a housewife in Gelsenkirchen. Creativity is not just the privilege of so-called "artists"; it is the property of every individual. It is the most important raw material in the renewal of the Ruhr Metropolis.
1st half year 2010
You can find further information at
www.whyareyoucreative.com