Relational creativity : what can participatory art do for higher education?

Abstract: Why research creativity in higher education? Creativity is regarded as a key competence for future education by the European Union as well as by UNESCO, and my wish is to contribute to this contemporary global agenda of rethinking education. Creativity is central for complex problem- solving and we need to rethink education to facilitate for our future citizens to develop creativity, to be able to meet our interconnected world's urgent need for sustainable development. Based on these global demands for supporting creativity as a competence in future education, I propose that developing knowledge about design for creative learning environments is an important quest in educational research.The problem however, is that, there is not much previous research that can serve as a knowledge foundation for how to design for learning environments which support students' development of creativity. In this thesis I research creativity from a sociorelational perspective, with and through participatory artistic practices. I first came to think of the notion of relational creativity, while working as an artist, noticing how there seemed to be a connection between participants' increased creativity and engagement in participatory artistic practices.The aim of the thesis is to develop theory about relational creativity as a design concept for creative learning environments, grounded in practice. The study is based on my previous research and development work as an artist-in-residence in higher education. In the thesis the theory is presented along with four design concepts for relational creativity. The four design concepts are: design for creative transformation - as in taking advantage of art's openness for interpretation and emergence of unexpected new solutions; design for creative participation - as in trusting the participants with the responsibility of contributing to a common work of art and knowledge; design for creative comparative encounters - as in providing participants with supportive environments free from judgmental evaluation; design for creative networking - as in facilitating for participants to share, interact with and contribute to each other's processes of art and meaning making. In the thesis I present theory along with rich empirical examples reconnecting to the participatory artistic interventions which this study is based on. My ambition to contribute with new knowledge about relational creativity as a design concept for creative learning environments in higher education, which is useful for practitioners as well as for the research community.