IMPROVISATION
You’ve run out of ideas. The deadline is coming
up and you need a new, transformative revelation.
It is time to call in for some improvisation.
Performing a task or coming up with an
innovative solution with zero preparation is no
easy feat. Robert Keith Sawyer is an American
psychologist who is a master in the study of
improvisation. Sawyer believes that improvisation
is the action of a creative individual making things
come together in the moment. Innovation
emerged from the bottom up, and therefore
improvisation requires risks. We need to be able to
take chances in various endeavors. We must be
able to take risks and to be vulnerable in able to be
creative. Improvisation out of necessity is a
scenario that requires consequences, there has to
be high stakes in order for this type of
improvisation to be gratifying. One can not expect
innovations to develop if they are not in a
stimulating environment. Keith Johnstone, one of the founders of improv
theater says “In life, most of us are highly skilled at
suppressing action. All the improvisation teacher
has to do is to reverse this skill and he creates very
gifted improvisers. Bad improvisers block action,
often with a high degree of skills. Good
improvisers develop action.” While this concept
directly relates to acting, this way of looking at
improvisation is extremely enlightening and leads
to another idea. We must prevent ourselves from
holding back, and let our actions flow. What
comes naturally is what is right, then we must lean
into discomfort. This sense of discomfort leads to
vulnerability. Creative individuals must welcome
vulnerability in order to welcome improvisation. I
recently conducted an interview with Mark Hills, a
fine artist who uses found objects and fiber to
create remarkable multimedia pieces. His work
has been featured in workshops.
We often take risks not knowing if there could even
be anything good on the other side; a risk without
reward. This type of risk without assurance can be
frightening and it is not for everybody. Action
without assurance is necessary in creative work
because it pushed individuals to be better and
greater, and to try new things. We don’t always have
to seek to be creative for a reward, sometimes we
have to be curious and make innovations for
learning purposes in order to feel fulfilled. These
types of improvisational risks fuel creativity.
Improvisation is a concept used in many creative
fields in different ways. Sometimes people
improvise without understanding what they are
doing. A lot can be learned about improvisation by
looking at actors and musicians who improvise in
their work. He is very knowledgeable about this subject and
he says that “creativity is the process of problem-
solving. Whether it is trying to solve an existing
problem to give a particular outcome, or coming
up with something in order to put forth a
particular point of view, or something that one
does in order to create an experience. An idea is
the thought or impression or something. It
represents what can be. We execute in order to
bring the idea into fruition, in other words, to
communicate the idea. In order to communicate
an idea, I will call this the ‘grand idea’, we will have
many opportunities for more ideas and
execution in order to reach the final outcome. I
believe that execution is more important only
because it is the culmination or proof of an idea,
even if that execution consists only of
documentation. Without some type of execution,
the idea is vapor.”