Madness, chaos, complexity and bricolage

TL;DRAbstract

Bricolage is a term used in several disciplines, among them the visual arts and literature, and it is often described as the notion of creating or constructing something using a range of objects that happen to be available (Oxford Dictionary). As a design concept, bricolage refers to building by experimentation or ‘trial and error’ as opposed to production according to some predetermined pattern. As such it allows the bottom-up, or inside-out emergence of content and structure rather than one being imposed down from the top. I propose to use this concept as a metaphor to explore and explain the links between madness and creativity. The belief that madness is linked with creative thinking has been held for centuries, and since the 1970’s scientific studies have established an unusually high rate of mental illness (mainly bipolar disorder) amongst highly creative individuals. This has led to further research in the quest to identify more specific connections between the two. Psychologist

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