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Bricolage is the creation of a work by

means of available
material and typically involves
appropriating
one material for a new purpose.
A lot of you have done this with your
DSD's.
Creating an outfit to wear out of food
items or plastic bags, not only utilizes
this material
outside of its intended purpose, but also
constructs
a commentary on the nature of the material
itself.
Bricolage can also apply to the process of
creativity itself.
Where collecting a range of ideas is
encouraged, as is free association with
concepts.
One might do in mind mapping.
In Steven Johnson's book, Where Good Ideas
Come From, he discusses the evolutionary
concept of exaptation where one biological
trait
is adapted for an entirely new purpose.
His example in the book is bird feathers,
originally purposed for warmth, were
exapted for flight.
As with Johnson's concepts discussed at
this point,
creativity often follows a similar pattern
to biology.
Bricolage as a key concept or theoretical
framework, applies
to many fields and domains in which
creativity is key.
Culturally, bricolage is seen as a
phenomenon in which one idea, icon,
symbol or object is given a new use and
therefore a new meaning.
The safety pin became an icon or
representation of the
punk movement where it was transformed
into a decorative object.
Applying this type of transformation
requires
a certain amount of creative skill.
To generate new uses for objects.
Bricolage is a technique as seen in
situations where access to resources is
limited.
Whether due to economic or regional
situations,
or due to design and budget constraints.
And is also seen as a part of daily life
or experimentation as often needed.
These constraints are a good thing as we
so chose.
Creativity often flourishes when

constraints are imposed.

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Another creativity technique that is
sometimes used by artists, educators
and writers, that you can use to spawn new
ideas
based on this type of communitorial
creativity or using the
materials that you have around you is
called exquisite corpse.
This is a technique originally developed
by the surrealists
of the 20th century to get over creative
blocks.
Exquisite corpse can be used in a group as
an alternative
to brain storming or as a form of group
attribute listing.
In its visual format, members of a group
contribute to a
drawing by passing the drawing around and
each adding to it.
Either drawing on top of another drawing
or dividing the paper into sections And
each
member drawing in one section at a time
before passing it on to the next.
Verbal and written forms exist as well.
One poetry form is called renga, but you
can also use this technique simply by
writing
a sentence or an idea and passing the page
to another to expand upon the idea.
The goal is to generate ideas
collaboratively as
the end of each idea inspires the next.
Similar to a mind map, except you have a
group of individuals contributing to a web
of ideas.
Again, this is a form of combinatorial
creativity.
Bricolage is more about repurposing
materials and using items in novel ways.
Exquisite corpse is a technique about
combining the resources of a group.
In the associated PDF with this lecture,
you'll find
some fantastic links to examples of
wonderful creative projects
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Including a DIY spacesuit and a landfill
philharmonic orchestra.
This PDF also includes links to Rube
Goldberg machines, which are a fantastic
example of creativity, bricolage, and
novel uses
of material not covered by this video.
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