Creativity in Art, Playing and Madness
Deniz Tansel İlic
DergiPark (Istanbul University) July 4, 2022 DOI: 10.18603/sanatvetasarim.1215191 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that play and playful trance produce an altered, less bounded state of consciousness in which derealization and depersonalization can occur, and that this dissociation can be seen both as a psychiatric symptom and as part of artistic creation. Proposes that in bipolar disorder, mental imagery, creativity, and madness converge, and that treating such images only as delusions reflects a one-dimensional psychiatry. |
Abstract
We experience the world from the solid stand point of logical thinking. However playing is entering theworld of magical thinking and gathering the pure look of the child’s eye. Plays let us go into a moreunbounded layer where we can experience the ‘reality’ differently. In this altered state of consciousness,s/he can experience derealization and depersonalization. This dissociation can be regarded both as thesymptom of a mental illness and the experience of the artist who loses himself in the process of creating.When one flows in playful trance, some mental images can come into being. Bipolar disorder is a typeof mental illness where this kind of mental images, creativity and madness come close to each other.Although traditional approach can relate those images to delusions, this image-producing process is themain necessity of creating and standing against that one-dimensional perception of psychiatry may beliberating.