Creativity

Creativity and the arts Spirituality and transcendence

Architecture Artists and art history Beauty and aesthetics Celebrations and festivals Creativity Dance Film Imagination Laughter and comedy Music Painting and sculpture Philosophy of art Photography Play Poetry Stories and literature The nature of reality Theatre and performance Traditional arts

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A kindergarten-age child plays with a padlock and key at a white table

Thinking and intelligence

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Innovative three-year-olds expose the limits of AI chatbots

New experiments show that very young children are better at solving creative puzzles than ChatGPT and other AI models

by Shayla Love

A person in a yellow jacket skipping stones at the beach during sunset, with calm water and rock formations in the distance.

Play

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All you need to know to start skipping stones like a pro

With the right attitude, stone skipping is a rebellious act that will leave you feeling like you have glitter in your veins

by Julie Benda

A close-up of a paint swatch booklet with colour samples including blue, yellow and beige. They have labels such as Polka Dot, Vanilla and Daisy Chain.

Creativity

guide

How to use ‘possibility thinking’

Have you hit an impasse in your personal or professional life? Answer these questions to open your mind to what’s possible

by Constance de Saint Laurent & Vlad Glăveanu

Silhouette of person standing before an orange light, creating a glowing halo effect on a neutral background.

Painting and sculpture

film

Toxic materials become sculptures of light and air in this artist’s hands

Directed by Anika Kan Grevstad

Black-and-white photo of three men smiling and holding a large inflatable globe in a small room with shelves.

Creativity

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A life of splendid uselessness is a life well lived

Like the fertile soil of a well-kept garden, a life of splendid, utter uselessness yields abundance beyond our immediate aims

by Joseph M Keegin

Woman with long dark hair sitting at a desk, using a typewriter. Art of a smiling face in the background.

Memoir

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Learn the art of journaling and archive your life

Journaling is an art and a daily practice that allows you to write your life and find your way, one sentence at a time

by Sarah Boon

Two people in a badly taken selfie with thumb obscuring the subject

Photography

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How to take better photos

Anyone can learn the principles that are essential to capturing quality images. Follow these tips and see the difference

by Paul Pope

A hand-drawn pie chart titled “Why I Do Not Read Lips,” with segments like “Honey, it’s not game night – no charades please,” “Too much eye contact, I have my limits,” and “Olive juice my ass.”

Creativity

film

This artist’s clever work moves Deaf culture from the margins to centre stage

Directed by Chiemi Karasawa

An elderly man admires a vibrant blue stained glass artwork depicting abstract figures, animals, and scenes.

Beauty and aesthetics

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Beauty is not an ornament to the good life, it is at its heart

Why does the hand want to draw what the eye sees as beautiful? Why do we respond to beauty by creating the beautiful?

by Nick Riggle

Waxwork of a woman in a vintage recording studio behind a microphone. A control panel is in the foreground, and a sign reads “Sing like Crazy with Patsy Cline.”

Music

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They’re playing our song! The philosophical puzzle of cover songs

Can a song be both the original and a copy? Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, and the ‘crazy’ philosophical puzzle of song covers

by P D Magnus

Black and white photo of an older man with curly hair gazing intensely sideways, capturing detailed facial features and deep expression.

Stories and literature

guide

How to create compelling characters

It’s not only writer’s intuition. Use personality psychology to create just the right blend of surprise and believability

by Kira-Anne Pelican

Abstract, surreal artwork featuring distorted shapes and figures in soft colours with a dreamlike, fluid appearance against a dark background.

Creativity

film

Human and machine worlds converge into dizzying, dreamlike visual art

Directed by Robert Seidel