Reviewing the Art of Crime: What, If Anything, Do Criminals and Artists/Designers Have in Common?

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511761225.009

9 - Reviewing the Art of Crime: What, If Anything, Do Criminals and Artists/Designers Have in Common?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Lorraine Gamman and

Edited by

James C. Kaufman and

Lorraine Gamman: Affiliation:
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Maziar Raein: Affiliation:
National Academy of the Arts, Oslo
David H. Cropley: Affiliation:
University of South Australia
Arthur J. Cropley: Affiliation:
University of Hamburg
James C. Kaufman: Affiliation:
California State University at San Bernardino
Mark A. Runco: Affiliation:
University of Georgia

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Summary

The “dark side of creativity” is a slippery concept to explore because the idea of “creativity” is subject to historically changing definitions. This chapter will review some ideas about creativity and, when discussing the art of crime as the “dark side of creativity,” will try to avoid positioning “darkness” as “blindness, evil, lack, loss and as the underworld” compared with “light” as “clarity, hope, goodness, rebirth and life.” Such stark oppositions often contain quasi-religious meanings, as exemplified by the Star Wars movies (“Yes, a Jedi's strength flows from the force. … But beware the desire of the dark side”). Instead, we will discuss the dark side of creativity by

Reviewing definitions of creativity and examining dyslexia and what else artists, designers, criminals, and entrepreneurs have in common (Gamman, 2008a)
Further explaining how and why ideas about the dark side of creativity are relevant to understanding the emergence of the Design Against Crime Research Centre (DACRC) located at the University of the Arts London – in particular, to understand approaches to design creativity defined as “thinking thief” (Ekblom, 1997) as well as the “criminal gaze” (Gamman, 2008b)
Finally, discussing how and why ideas about the “the art of crime”, as well as actual crime itself, have informed the discourse of transgression associated with art and design, informing a number of creative outputs that we review

Type: Chapter
Information: The Dark Side of Creativity , pp. 155 - 176

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511761225.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

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