In the Beginning was: improvisation?

Posted by admin on Oct 21, 2010 in Academy | 0 comments

Drawing together great scholarly minds from across the continent, the fifth annual VERGE Conference, titled Arts and Genesis and hosted by SAMC, investigated how the arts relate to and illuminate our understandings of beginnings. With topics spanning from pottery to Stephen Hawking’s newest book, this conference took a full swing at concepts of genesis. Certainly the most significant issue discussed at the conference revolved around long held opinions on ideas of “genius” in art and creation ex nihilo (from nothing).

Addressing the conference as key-note speaker was Wheaton College professor and Chair of Philosophy Bruce Ellis-Benson. Benson, who has written extensively on various topics including the phenomenology of music, sought to challenge lingering ideas like the myth of genius and its complementary notion of creation ex nihilo.

For generations, in ebb and flow, the arts community has acknowledged “genius” as the generative force behind fine art. Reinforced by influential thinkers like Immanuel Kant, it has for too long been assumed that the strong creator (or genius) uses its power and talent to take off into the unknown, to create something completely original – ex nihilo.

But as Benson wryly exclaimed, “What can taking off into the unknown possibly look, sound, or feel like?” In other words, do we ever really enter the unknown, or do we simply create from what we already know? For Benson, the artistic “genius” does not exist quoting Rogers and Hammerstein, “nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could.” Instead, a view of artistic creation as improvisation, a call and response, is for Benson an understanding of genesis that links both the structure and form of art and the conditions in which it is created.

While notions of genius may appear to embrace mystery and awe, they in fact conceal the earthly reality in the working and re-working of materials in search of an artistic expression. There are a multitude of myths – many substantiated by forged documents – about composers like Beethoven, citing an uncanny ability to write down music from his mind to final form on paper without any editing whatsoever. Existing manuscripts of Beethoven prove otherwise. What is clear is that when the element of genius is added, the telling of his past is left void of any kind of playful interaction or redaction with the musical ideas he employed.

A more credible view, therefore, is that creation is, in essence, improvisation; the “to and fro” of play that ultimately leads to structure. What is created always builds on that which already is, and is a fabrication of what is already conveniently at hand. Even for the avante-garde artist, turning away from tradition actually validates it as important, as a step in the journey.

Complimenting this understanding of genesis, other VERGE Conference presenters shared research on topics like world-making through creative fantasy, art as gift and service, genesis in jazz improvisation, and much more. The VERGE Conference certainly didn’t strike out in its attempt to explore the idea of arts and genesis. The VERGE really is about convergence and divergence; the convergence of people in dialogue offers a multiplicity of extending discussions diverging from the central idea of each particular conference. Come expecting more great ideas and discussion next fall at VERGE.

C olin H.J. McFarland