Saturday, the V&A re-opened their Museum of Childhood (now called the Young V&A) after a 3-year closure and £13m renovation.
We eagerly anticipated the unveiling because we live just down the street. And it didn’t disappoint.
It’s hard to describe how dramatic the transformation was. The old museum I can only describe as a bit…stale. Lots of Victorian toys trapped behind panes of glass. Creativity was contained. Cordoned off. Controlled.
The pre-renovation Museum of Childhood: I find particularly depressing the photo of a girl riding a rocking horse. It's like telling the child visitor, 'Look how much fun you could be having if this were an interactive museum, but it's not'.
Now the space is vibrant. A constant hum of excited voices echoes throughout. There is a buzz, an aliveness which was completely absent before. It feels impossible that anyone would shush a child here. Whereas that would’ve been inevitable in its previous incarnation.
It feels like the museum has reclaimed its creativity in a way that mirrors a need we have, as a species, to reclaim our collective creativity.
Watching the children, including my 2-year-old daughter Laila, run around and enjoy this space is incredibly inspiring. It makes me wonder what would become possible if an entire generation of children everywhere had access to creatively-nourishing spaces like this. If this level of creative stimulation and creative freedom were simply a new baseline, what would become possible for our world?
If this transformation represents part of the vanguard of a global creativity revolution, what would the revolution consist of?
Taking inspiration from this museum’s transformation, I see at least three major shifts we need to revolutionize our relationship with creativity.
1. From creativity for a select few to creativity for everyone.
The old museum catered to the typical museum-going population. Older white privileged people. But the new museum is for everyone. "Free for all."
For example, curators worked with local children from a diverse range of backgrounds to help redesign the museum and ensure it felt accessible and engaging for them.
Portraits of local children expressing themselves.
Given the scale and complexity of the challenges we're facing, we can no longer afford to delegate creativity to a select subset of society. We must activate our collective creativity if we are to survive and thrive.
So the creativity revolution requires disrupting, democratizing, and diversifying institutions that support creativity in our society whether in the performing arts, in creative industries like advertising or publishing, or in venture capital.
2. From engaging with creativity as a spectator to engaging as a participant.
We often treat creativity as something to marvel at in museums, theatres, exhibitions or concert halls. The old museum placed visitors firmly in the position of spectator. The objects were safely behind glass, available to admire from a distance.
Now, even if an object needs to be protected behind glass, it is integrated in the space so visitors can still participate.
A marble statue sits on a marble bench, while the wooden purse is perched on a wooden bench.
Currently, we tend to consume others' creativity either passively or critically. When we're taught creative subjects, it's often with an evaluative lens. We analyze and critique the book/film/painting and it positions us as a spectator, outside the creative process.
The creativity revolution requires that we adopt a more relational, experiential and interactive approach to creativity. As audience members do we realize we're co-creating the experience with the musicians or performers? Even in asynchronous creativity we can be actively engaged in a way that says, 'I'm willing to be changed by this experience'. It reminds me of a thought-provoking book chapter I read by Steven Pritzker, a TV writer turned psychology professor, where he argues we can watch TV either as a passive viewer, mindlessly tuning out, or as an active viewer, gaining "creative inspiration and growth".
3. From creativity as monolithic to creativity as multidimensional.
One of the main reasons people claim they’re not creative is they hold a hyper-narrow definition of creativity. Either creativity means being artistic, exceptionally talented at drawing or painting, or creativity means being an innovative visionary like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. When creativity becomes such a tiny box it’s hard to see that we could be creative too.
In my PhD research I asked people what creativity meant to them. When they said they wanted to be more creative, what exactly did they mean by that? From hundreds of definitions and examples, I distilled 5 distinct dimensions of creativity. And I was pleased to see these 5 dimensions reflected in how the museum conceptualizes creativity.
1. Ideation and imagination. This is the creativity of coming up with new and useful ideas. It is the creativity of brainstorming, problem solving, daydreaming and storytelling.
2. Making. Creating something out of nothing. This is the creativity of baking a cake, organizing a wedding, sculpting a pot out of clay, or launching a startup.
The museum has a studio space for visitors to make their own creative projects.
3. Originality. This is the creativity of self-expression and self-exploration. Wearing clothes or making choices that reflect your unique personality and point of view.
A selection of self-portraits.
Including this one.
4. Spontaneity. This is the creativity of play, of improvisation, of intuition and feelings of flow.
The museum includes a stage for impromptu performances like this one ;)
And a dress-up closet for inspiration.
5. Disruption. This is the creativity of change agents, activists, and advocates. It is the creativity of seeing problems where others have become comatose with complacency. The creativity of challenging the status quo and bringing a brighter future into being.
Poster designed by Suffrage Atelier, 1913
Broadening the definition of creativity makes it more inclusive. It means that more people can see themselves as creative and can find a creative outlet that satisfies that creative itch. It means we can appreciate that different people may have different dimensions of creativity that are more or less important to them and we don't have to agree on one monolithic definition.
Are you convinced we need a creativity revolution? What transformations do you want to see in the ways we collectively relate to creativity?
P.S. If I've managed to convince you to come visit the Young V&A why not message me and maybe I'll see you there!
Poster by Danish artist Asger Jorn created to support the 1968 youth uprising in France (not at the V&A).