Exploring the history of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies deck, asking ChatGPT for creative inspiration, and figuring out how to keep digging into the weird and the wild.
Most adults don’t tend to think of math as creative, but I find it very much so. I co-run a math games program that we do with 2nd- and 3rd-graders, and one of my favorite things is if we’ve worked together long enough that the question “What if 2 + 2 did equal 5?” or equivalent comes up. It opens up so much exploration! Of what a number is, of why math exists in the first place, of the fraught history of 0 … it’s all weird and wild.
Humans can’t help being creative. I love that about us.
I’ve known of and used oblique strategies for years. Eno’s creativity has always inspired me, his range of interaction with his creativity and with other people’s is fantastic. I’m reading Rubin’s book now. Good stuff, very in line with how I’m coming back to my own outside of the treatment room and kitchen creativity, i.e. my writing and photography. Probably has something to do with my engagement with meditation as well.
The Best Creative Constraints Are the Oblique Ones
Most adults don’t tend to think of math as creative, but I find it very much so. I co-run a math games program that we do with 2nd- and 3rd-graders, and one of my favorite things is if we’ve worked together long enough that the question “What if 2 + 2 did equal 5?” or equivalent comes up. It opens up so much exploration! Of what a number is, of why math exists in the first place, of the fraught history of 0 … it’s all weird and wild.
Humans can’t help being creative. I love that about us.
I appreciated this - thank you Anna! Your writing is just what I needed today ❤️
I’ve known of and used oblique strategies for years. Eno’s creativity has always inspired me, his range of interaction with his creativity and with other people’s is fantastic. I’m reading Rubin’s book now. Good stuff, very in line with how I’m coming back to my own outside of the treatment room and kitchen creativity, i.e. my writing and photography. Probably has something to do with my engagement with meditation as well.
Always and again-- thanks Anna