Monday 3 April 2017

This Creative Life: Books for developing your Curatorial Practice and Creative Research


A range of new titles have been recently purchased for the Library, to complement the library's existing holdings and in a direct response to developing the Library Collections for MA Course requirements.

The artist as culture producer : living and sustaining a creative life  /  edited by Sharon Louden.  (2017)
709.22 LOU
When Living and Sustaining a Creative Life was published in 2013, it became an immediate sensation. Edited by Sharon Louden, the book brought together forty essays by working artists, each sharing their own story of how to sustain a creative practice that contributes to the ongoing dialogue in contemporary art. The book struck a nerve how do artists really make it in the world today? Louden took the book on a sixty-two-stop book tour, selling thousands of copies, and building a movement along the way.Now, Louden returns with a sequel: forty more essays from artists who have successfully expanded their practice beyond the studio and become change agents in their communities. There is a misconception that artists are invisible and hidden, but the essays here demonstrate the truth artists make a measurable and innovative economic impact in the non-profit sector, in education, and in corporate environments. The Artist as Culture Producer illustrates how today's contemporary artists add to creative economies through out-of-the-box thinking while also generously contributing to the well-being of others.By turns humorous, heartbreaking, and instructive, the testimonies of these forty diverse working artists will inspire and encourage every reader from the art student to the established artist. With a foreword by Hyperallergic cofounder and editor-in-chief Hrag Vartanian, The Artist as Culture Producer is set to make an indelible mark on the art world redefining how we see and support contemporary artists.Louden will be undertaking another book tour, with stops across the United States and even into Australia. More information and tour dates can be found online at www.livesustain.org.
 
Conceptual design for interactive systems : designing for performance and user experience  /  Avi Parush.  (2015)
004.019 PAR
Conceptual Design for Interactive Systems: Designing for Performance and User Experience provides readers with a comprehensive guide to the steps necessary to take the leap from research and requirements to product design. The text presents a proven strategy for transforming research into a conceptual model, discussing the iterative process that allows users to build the essential foundation for a successful interactive system, while also taking the users’ mental model into consideration. Readers will gain a better understanding of the framework they need to perceive, understand, and experience their tasks and processes in the context of their products. The text is ideal for those seeking a proven, innovative strategy for meeting goals through intuitive and effective thinking. Provides a practical, guiding approach that can be immediately applied to everyday practice and study.
Complete analysis and explanation of conceptual modeling and its value
Discusses the implications of effective and poor conceptual models
Presents a step-by-step process, allowing users to build the essential foundation for a successful interactive system

Design : the invention of desire  /  Jessica Helfand.  ([2016])
745.4 HEL
A compelling defense for the importance of design and how it shapes our behavior, our emotions, and our lives Design has always prided itself on being relevant to the world it serves, but interest in design was once limited to a small community of design professionals. Today, books on "design thinking" are best sellers, and computer and Web-based tools have expanded the definition of who practices design. Looking at objects, letterforms, experiences, and even theatrical performances, award-winning author Jessica Helfand asserts that understanding design's purpose is more crucial than ever. Design is meaningful not because it is pretty but because it is an intrinsically humanist discipline, tethered to the very core of why we exist. For example, as designers collaborate with developing nations on everything from more affordable lawn mowers to cleaner drinking water, they must take into consideration the full range of a given community's complex social needs. Advancing a conversation that is unfolding around the globe, Helfand offers an eye-opening look at how designed things make us feel as well as how-and why-they motivate our behavior.

Empathy : why it matters, and how to get it  /  Roman Krznaric.  (2015)
152.41 KRZ
Influential popular philosopher Roman Krznaric argues our brains are wired for social connection: empathy is at the heart of who we are. It's an essential, transforming quality we must develop for the 21st Century. Through encounters with actors, activists, groundbreaking designers, undercover journalists, nurses, bankers and neuroscientists, Krznaric defines a new breed of adventurer. He sets out the six life-enhancing habits of highly empathic people, whose skills enable them to connect with others in extraordinary ways. Empathy has the power to transform relationships, from the personal to the political. Krznaric contends that, as we move on from an age of introspection, empathy will be key to fundamental social change - making this book a manifesto for revolution.

The hidden pleasures of life : a new way of remembering the past and imagining the future  /  Theodore Zeldin.  (2016)
158.2 ZEL
The story of a search for a new art of living. How can one escape from work colleagues who are bores and from organisations that thrive on stress? What new priorities can people give to their private lives? When the romantic ideal is disappointing, how else can affections be cultivated? If only a few can become rich, what substitute is there for dropping out? If religions and nations disagree, what other outcomes are possible beyond strife or doubt? Where there is too little freedom, what is the alternative to rebellion? When so much is unpredictable, what can replace ambition?

Questions include: What is the great adventure of our time? What is a wasted life? How can people lose their illusions about themselves? What alternatives are there to being a rebel? What can the poor tell the rich? What could the rich tell the poor? How many ways of committing suicide are there? How can an unbeliever understand a believer? How can a religion change? How can prejudices be overcome? How can one think about the future, without trying to predict it or worrying about it? Is ridicule the most effective form of non-violent protest? How does one acquire a sense of humour? What stops people feeling completely at home in their own country? How many nations can one love at the same time? Why do so many people feel unappreciated, unloved and not fully alive? How else might women and men treat one another? What can replace the shortage of soul-mates? Is another kind of sexual revolution achievable? What can artists aim for beyond self-expression? What is more interesting than becoming a leader? What is the point of working so hard? Are there more amusing ways of earning a living? What else can one do in a hotel? What more can the young ask of their elders? Is remaining young at heart enough to avoid becoming old? What is worth knowing? What does it mean to be alive? Where can one find nourishment for the mind?

Making futures : marginal notes on innovation, design, and democracy  /  edited by Pelle Ehn, Elisabet M. Nilsson, and Richard Topgaard.  ([2014])
303.483 EHN
Innovation and design need not be about the search for a killer app. Innovation and design can start in people's everyday activities. They can encompass local services, cultural production, arenas for public discourse, or technological platforms. The approach is participatory, collaborative, and engaging, with users and consumers acting as producers and creators. It is concerned less with making new things than with making a socially sustainable future. This book describes experiments in innovation, design, and democracy, undertaken largely by grassroots organizations, non-governmental organizations, and multi-ethnic working-class neighborhoods. These stories challenge the dominant perception of what constitutes successful innovations. They recount efforts at social innovation, opening the production process, challenging the creative class, and expanding the public sphere. The wide range of cases considered include a collective of immigrant women who perform collaborative services, the development of an open-hardware movement, grassroots journalism, and hip-hop performances on city buses. They point to the possibility of democratized innovation that goes beyond solo entrepreneurship and crowdsourcing in the service of corporations to include multiple futures imagined and made locally by often-marginalized publics. ContributorsMans Adler, Erling Bjorgvinsson, Karin Book, David Cuartielles, Pelle Ehn, Anders Emilson, Per-Anders Hillgren, Mads Hobye, Michael Krona, Per Linde, Kristina Lindstrom, Sanna Marttila, Elisabet M. Nilsson, Anna Seravalli, Pernilla Severson, Asa Stahl, Lucy Suchman, Richard Topgaard, Laura Watts

Material synthesis : fusing the physical and the computational  /  guest editor, Achim Menges.  (2015)
721.04 MEN
Material Synthesis: Fusing the Physical and the Computational Guest–edited by Achim Menges
A new understanding of the material in architecture is fast emerging. Designers are no longer conceiving of the digital realm as separate from the physical world. Instead computation is being regarded as the key interface for material exploration and vice versa. This represents a significant perceptual shift in which the materiality of architecture is no longer seen to be a fixed property and passive receptor of form, but is transformed into an active generator of design and an adaptive agent of architectural performance. In stark contrast to previous linear and mechanistic modes of fabrication and construction, materialisation is now beginning to coexist with design as explorative robotic processes. This represents a radical departure from both the trite modernist emphasis on ′truth to materials′ and the dismissal of materials by the previous generation of digital architects.

The issue features designers, researchers and thinkers that are at the forefront of exploring new modes of material enquiry and its deep interrelationship with technology, biology and culture. Through their work, which unfolds from multifaceted alliances between the fields of design, engineering and natural sciences, it seeks to trace the emergence of a novel material culture in architecture.

Architectural and engineering contributors include: Sean Ahlquist, Martin Bechthold, Philippe Block, Karola Dierichs, Jan Knippers, Achim Menges, Neri Oxman, Steffen Reichert and Tobias Schwinn.
Scientific and philosophical perspectives provided by: Mario Carpo, Manuel De Landa, Neil Gershenfeld and Thomas Speck.
Features the design research of: Harvard′s Material Processes and Systems Group, MIT′s Mediated Matter Group and Stuttgart University′s Institute for Computational Design.

Photography and the art of chance  /  Robin Kelsey.  (2015)
770 KEL
As anyone who has wielded a camera knows, photography has a unique relationship to chance. It also represents a struggle to reconcile aesthetic aspiration with a mechanical process. Robin Kelsey reveals how daring innovators expanded the aesthetic limits of photography in order to create art for a modern world.

Photography and collaboration : from conceptual art to crowdsourcing  /  Daniel Palmer.  (2017)
770 PAL
Photography and Collaboration offers a fresh perspective on existing debates in art photography and on the act of photography in general. Unlike conventional accounts that celebrate individual photographers and their personal visions, this book investigates the idea that authorship in photography is often more complex and multiple than we imagine - involving not only various forms of partnership between photographers, but also an astonishing array of relationships with photographed subjects and viewers. Thematic chapters explore the increasing prevalence of collaborative approaches to photography among a broad range of international artists - from conceptual practices in the 1960s to the most recent digital manifestations. Positioning contemporary work in a broader historical and theoretical context, the book reveals that collaboration is an overlooked but essential dimension of the medium's development and potential.

Platform revolution : how networked markets are transforming the economy - and how to make them work for you  /  Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, Sangeet Paul Choudary.  ([2016])
658.872 PAR
Facebook, PayPal, Alibaba, Uber-these seemingly disparate companies have upended entire industries by harnessing a single phenomenon: the platform business model. Platform Revolution delivers the first comprehensive analysis of how platforms use technology to match producers and consumers in a multisided marketplace, unlocking hidden resources and creating new forms of value. When a company like Uber connects drivers with passengers, everybody wins- except traditional taxi companies, which are scrambling to survive. Assumptions about operations, finance, strategy and innovation all change. Platform Revolution explores the what, how and why of this revolution and provides the first "owner's manual" for creating a platform marketplace. Revealing the strategies behind some of today's rising platforms, the authors explain how entrepreneurs-and traditional companies- can thrive in this new world. In cases as diverse as shoes, spices, dating, energy, home appliances and education, Platform Revolution provides the essential guide to unlocking the potential of an economic landscape transformed.

Researching creative learning : methods and issues  /  edited by Pat Thomson and Julian Sefton-Green.  (c2011)
371.102 THO
It is a common ambition in society and government to make young people more creative. These aspirations are motivated by two key concerns: to make experience at school more exciting, relevant, challenging and dynamic; and to ensure that young people are able and fit to leave education and contribute to the creative economy that will underpin growth in the twenty-first century.
Transforming these common aspirations into informed practice is not easy. It can mean making many changes:
turning classrooms into more exciting experiences;
introducing more thoughtful challenges into the curriculum;
making teachers into different kinds of instructors;
finding more authentic assessment processes;
putting young people’s voices at the heart of learning.
There are programmes, projects and initiatives that have consistently attempted to offer such change and transformation. The UK programme Creative Partnerships is the largest of these, but there are significant initiatives in many other parts of the world today, including France, Norway, Canada and the United States. This book not only draws on this body of expertise but also consolidates it, making it the first methodological text exploring creativity.
Creative teaching and learning is often used as a site for research and action research, and this volume is intended to act as a textbook for this range of courses and initiatives. The book will be a key text for research in creative teaching and learning and is specifically directed at ITE, CPD, Masters and doctoral students.

Smart textiles for designers : inventing the future of fabrics  /  Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman.  (2016)
677.0283 PAI
Smart Textiles for Designers introduces the different qualities and properties that can be embedded in, integrated with, and applied to fabrics and looks at the different contexts in which these smart textiles can be used, from healthcare to haute couture, firefighting to sportswear. A survey of specific fabrics grouped by properties provides a core reference section and a palette for the designer to work from. The book also examines five different design approaches and features interviews with leading designers and design teams, showing their processes and working methods.

Stained glass work : a text-book for students and workers in glass  /  by C. W. Whall ; with diagrams by two of his apprentices and other illustrations ; with an introduction by Peter Cormack.  (2010)
748.50282 WHA
A Text-Book for Students and Workers in Glass by the artist Christopher Whitworth Whall, first published in 1905 in the Artistic Crafts Series of Technical Handbooks.

Tomorrow's world : a look at the demographic and socio-economic structure of the world in 2032  /  Clint Laurent.  ([2013])
304.60905 LAU
How the world′s demographic and socio–economic landscape will change over the next two decades
Tomorrow′s World maps out the world′s near future through the lens of demography, dealing with issues of health and wealth; death and taxes; buying and selling; education and progress; and how and where we choose to live. The last century saw the world′s population quadruple, the emergence of mega–cities and increased urbanisation, and large changes in fertility, mortality, healthcare, education, and income. The world we live in today was profoundly shaped by those changes. This book looks at what′s happening now and how demographic changes will reshape the twenty–first century. It highlights the most significant current demographic realities and explains the implications they′ll have for our near future. If you run a business, manage a brand, or just want to know what the future looks like, Tomorrow′s World is a must–read.

A vitally important look at demographic trends how they will effect labour, education, population, economics, and business in this century. Written by the founder and Managing Director of Global Demographics Ltd., a leading demographic agency that consults with companies on market and business planning. If you ever wanted to know what tomorrow′s world will look like, you have to start by looking at the world today. This book reveals how the experts expect our socio–economic landscape to evolve, identifying threats and opportunities along the way.

Unflattening  /  Nick Sousanis.  (2015)
741.501 SOU
The primacy of words over images has deep roots in Western culture. But what if the two are inextricably linked, equal partners in meaning-making? Written and drawn entirely as comics, Unflattening" is an experiment in visual thinking. Nick Sousanis defies conventional forms of scholarly discourse to offer readers both a stunning work of graphic art and a serious inquiry into the ways humans construct knowledge. Unflattening "is an insurrection against the fixed viewpoint. Weaving together diverse ways of seeing drawn from science, philosophy, art, literature, and mythology, it" uses the collage-like capacity of comics to show that perception is always an active process of incorporating and re-evaluating different vantage points. While its vibrant, constantly morphing images occasionally serve as illustrations of text, they more often connect in nonlinear fashion to other visual references throughout the book. They become allusions, allegories, and motifs, pitting realism against abstraction and making us aware that more meets the eye than is presented on the page. In its graphic innovations and restless shape-shifting, Unflattening "is meant to counteract the type of narrow, rigid thinking that Sousanis calls flatness. Just as the two-dimensional inhabitants of Edwin A. Abbott s novella Flatland" could not fathom the concept of upwards, Sousanis says, we are often unable to see past the boundaries of our current frame of mind. Fusing words and images to produce new forms of knowledge, Unflattening" teaches us how to access modes of understanding beyond what we normally apprehend."

The upstarts : how Uber, Airbnb and the killer companies of the new silicon valley are changing the world  /  Brad Stone.  (2017)
658.11 STO
Ten years ago, the idea of getting into a stranger’s car, or walking into a stranger’s home, would have seemed bizarre and dangerous, but today it’s as common as ordering a book online. Uber and Airbnb are household names: redefining neighbourhoods, challenging the way governments regulate business and changing the way we travel. In the spirit of iconic Silicon Valley renegades like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, a new generation of entrepreneurs is sparking yet another cultural upheaval through technology. They are among the Upstarts, idiosyncratic founders with limitless drive and an abundance of self-confidence. Young, hungry and brilliant, they are rewriting the traditional rules of business, changing our day-to-day lives and often sidestepping serious ethical and legal obstacles in the process. The Upstarts is the definitive account of a dawning age of tenacity, creativity, conflict and wealth. In Brad Stone’s highly anticipated and riveting account of the most radical companies of the new Silicon Valley, we find out how it all started, and how the world is wildly different than it was ten years ago.

Visual, narrative and creative research methods : application, reflection and ethics  /  Dawn Mannay.  (2015)
300.72 MAN

Visual research methods are quickly becoming key topics of interest and are now widely recognised as having the potential to evoke emphatic understanding of the ways in which other people experience their worlds. Visual, Narrative and Creative Research Methods examines the practices and value of these visual approaches as a qualitative tool in the field of social science and related disciplines. This book is concerned with the process of applying visual methods as a tool of inquiry from design, to production, to analysis and dissemination. Drawing on research projects which reflect real world situations, you will be methodically guided through the research process in detail, enabling you to examine and understand the practices and value of visual, narrative and creative approaches as effective qualitative tools.

Key topics include: techniques of data production, including collage, mapping, drawing and photographs; the practicalities of application; the positioning of the researcher; interpretation of visual data; images and narratives in public spaces; evaluative analysis of creative approaches.

  

 Browse Our Shelves
There may be times when you simply want to browse the library’s shelves for books on particular topics – the useful shelfmarks below will help you.
Don’t forget that we are here to help you. Just ask at the Library Counter if you need help getting started.
§  001.4 Research methodologies and study skills
§  121.68 Structuralism
§  150.195 Psychology
§  170 Ethics
§  190 Philosophers A-Z
§  200 Religion
§  302.23 Media studies
§  303.483 Digital culture
§  305.4 Feminism
§  305.3 Queer theory
§  305.8 Race and ethnography
§  306 Consumer culture and anthropology
§  321 Political systems
§  325.3 Colonialism and imperialism
§  330 Capitalism and economics
§  335 Socialism
§  335.4 Marxism
§  370 Educational theory
§  701 Art theory and criticism
§  701.09047 Aesthetics
§  701.4 Semiotics
§  707 Art education
§  708 Curatorship
§  801.95 Literary theory and poetics
Art Theory and History
§  701.0904 Twentieth century art theory
§  701.09047 Aesthetics
§  701.0905 Twenty-first century art theory
§  701.4 Semiotics
§  707 Art education
§  708 Curatorship
§  709.04 Twentieth century art history
§  709.05 Twenty-first century art history
§  770.1 Photography theory
§  791.43 Film theory
Artists A-Z
§  709.2 Multi-disciplinary artists A-Z
§  730.92 Sculptors A-Z
§  750.92 Painters A-Z
§  769.092 Printmakers A-Z
§  779 Photographers A-Z
§  709.22 Video artists A-Z
International Contemporary Art
§  709.394 Middle East
§  709.410904-05 Britain
§  709.430904-05  Germany
§  709.440904-05  France
§  709.510904-05 China
§  709.520904-05 Japan
§  709.540904-05 India
§  709.730904-05 America
§  709.80904-05 Latin America
Genre and Theme
§  700.285 Electronic and digital art
§  702.8112 Performance art and the body
§  709.04073 Sound art
§  710 Public art
§  710.05 Graffiti and street art
§  735.23 Installation art
§  741.34 Anatomy and life-drawing