What’s wrong with creativity?

Abstract

In this essay we put forward a critique of the prevailing orthodoxy of creativity and innovation which are rarely fundamentally questioned neither in science nor in public discourse. We urge to reconsider contemporary purposes and consequences of what we call instrumental and humanist conceptions of creativity and innovation. Based on our critique we speak out to transcend reified notions of creativity and innovation by engaging in disciplined imagination of desirable alternative futures using the example of craft as a timeless form of work. Craft, we argue, prefigures a type of creativity and innovation that addresses the social and ecological challenges of contemporary economy and society and may thus serve as a source for inspiration to radically re-think current, ingrained notions of creativity and innovation.