If you have ever thought to yourself that it might be fun to throw Robbi and me into a laboratory and poke and prod us with various sensors and probes, here is your golden opportunity. We have been identified by a nice fellow writing a piece on creative collaboration for a well-known online magazine as subjects for his wonderings. The name of the well-known online magazine and the nice fellow/author of the piece will be left unnamed for the time being.
The plan, as this fellow sees it, is to subject us to a number of evaluations that run the gamut from downright scientific to downright whimsical, all in an effort to get at the question of what makes a creative pair tick. What is it that happens when two minds come together and try to create? Perhaps you know the answer already. The nice fellow writing the article does not. And so he aims to thoroughly investigate us.
Robbi and I have already undergone a number of evaluations, including some psychological surveys, a visit to the barn by a Feng Shui master, and an examination of our written correspondence by a psychologist. We are in the process of creating drawings of our ideal work space, creating a dictionary of our private language (I hadn’t even realized that we had a private language), and are anticipating a trip to an actual laboratory, in which we will be hooked up with sensors and electrodes, which will evaluate our unconscious biorhythmic utterances. I kid you not. The very depth of our beings is being summarily plumbed. And yet the nice fellow will not be content until he has examined our collaboration in each and every manner imaginable.
Here is where you come in. We have been asked (by the nice fellow, writing on behalf of the unnamed, yet well-known online magazine) to turn to you, faithful readers, for ideas for yet more ways in which our collaboration might be measured, analyzed, tested, or scrutinized.
So put on your lab coats and take out your test tubes. Dig deep and see what you can come up with. No idea will be unconsidered. Consider the floor open. We can’t wait to hear your ideas.
And neither can the nice fellow.
Please note: As an added incentive, we will be sending the illustration at the top of this post as a prize to whichever of you is determined to have supplied the best idea (according to the nice man who is writing the article for the not-yet-named but terribly impressive online magazine).
The Mystery Science Theater 3000: Tape the two of you watching a terrible movie and making jokes about it and/or tape you having to do something completely mundane but with the goal of making it seem creative.
i don’t know if this is a means of measure, necessarily, but i think it would be enlightening for you two to switch jobs on a project, with matthew illustrating something robbi’s written. the idea would be to consider how heavily a creative partnership depends on its members fulfilling their proscribed roles, and to what extent it’s simply a matter of getting the right combination of people in the same room.
Better one: have you attempt to make something creative but without the use of a sense. So create something, but no talking. Or, create something but no seeing what the other person is doing. I’m not sure how taste, touch, or smell might apply (force you to not shower for days?!?)
My husband and I are both in the arts, and the first thing that comes to mind, is that someone could have a heyday watching us cook together. There is a shorthand (a language, um, often quite “colorful”) lots of arguing, lots of laughing, and a definite teamwork… of sorts. It’s a similar creative process to our real work, but more condensed.
Rory – see: http://www.thebarnstorming.com/archives/2008/03/babys_first_mov.html
Unfortunately, most of our commentary was groans and barf sounds.
Kenan – we have been meaning to try this. I happen to LOVE matthew’s illustrations.
Rory – great idea. Though there’s no need to “force” either of us not to shower for days. What with us being our only company, sometimes it just happens by accident. And then one of us finally says, “Whew! Do I stink?” and we are reminded that it’s been days since the last shower.
Clare – it would be interesting to see us cook together. I generally take about 5 hours and totally destroy the kitchen to make something that is only moderately edible. Matthew can whisk up something equally moderately edible in a mere 3 minutes. Where would the twain meet?
Ok- I’m not really sure what makes creative couples tick, but I am DESPERATE for that illustration. Maybe have the unnamed man give you a title or a prompt. From there you could go several ways- each of you could make your own story with illustrations and compare similarities/differences with the work and/or how you approached the work. OR Robi could respond with a picture- Matthew with words, then record or watch the two of you taking the two things you came up with separately and watch you put them together to form a collaboration. I think you did something similar, but one of you was coming up with the words or pictures and sending it to the other. This way neither had the initial idea- and you can see the creativity separately and together. I will think on this because that is probably totally lame. Maybe my creative other half will come up with something better. I too am half of a creative couple that lives and works together. Only small children are the victims subjected to our creativity. Below is a link to one of our many collaborations. It also makes it obvious just why we HAVE to win that illustration. (Note that anytime you see just him- I am behind the camera with cue cards taped to me. The dog is ridiculously unhelpful- yet she gets more fan mail.)
http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=1368&title=Light_and_Sound_PART_2___Blinding_you_with_Science_series
As the husband of Cathy’s sister who posted above, I feel like I must collaborate with my wife on this request. We work together on many of our projects. At the end of them we can’t remember who came up with what part of the final product. This may prove more difficult in your case since you have obvious roles in your projects. Did I mention we are subscribers? Let me throw that in just in case we can’t come up with any helpful information for you. We do have a language all our own when we collaborate. When we use the computer to edit videos we don’t even use words any more. Just guttural sounds, gurgles and pointing to things on the screen. This primitve communication allows us to work together more effectively than we ever did before. Did I mention we have read your blog since Alden was born? Just thought i’d throw that in as well. The thing we have found about collaboration is that our projects tend to have a greater degree of success if we work together on them instead of totally separately. The “sum of the parts” and all that. Did I mention that my online character looks suspiciously like your drawing? Not that it has a bearing on whether or not we should get the drawing. Anyway, here is one or two more links to show some of our collaboration. Remember, our audience is children. You know, like yours. Not that that should affect your decision.
http://mckilloplibrary.edu.glogster.com/McKillop-Drloopy/
http://mckilloplibrary.edu.glogster.com/uss-mckillop-book-reviews-4/
http://mckilloplibrary.edu.glogster.com/McKillop-Drloopy/
I think you should force yourselves to do the thing the other person enjoys but you cannot absolutely not relate to. Like robbi has to watch a full day of college ball and matthew has to… I don’t know b/c everything robbi does is awesome (frozen corn solidarity!) my hypothesis is that you will actually enjoy the other person’s intolerable activity more than you think- OR you may discover that having such intertwined lives you need your tiny little space that excludes the other-
there. i posted it on the blog. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!?!?!?
please send hooves.
In the interest of utility, I suggest trying to determine whether or not (or to what degree) the creative-synergy process is a skill set or the product of a cultivated relationship. Can Matthew apply his well-honed collaborative skills and successfully create a couple hour project with some artist who is a creative collaboration virgin – a lone wolf? Say Brother King? (I have no idea if Brother King is a lone wolf or not – if you are his mate, please don’t come blow my house down.) Does Brother King need to understand Idiot speak to create with Matthew? Can Robbi successfully force her artwork on (uh, I mean, entwine her artwork with) some other unsuspecting writer-man in glasses? What tactics will she employ? Perhaps it is simply once-in-a-universe Idiot chemistry? The application of this information has implications for big projects (such as say, instituting world peace or taking over the world), so if you do find out the secret skill set or the exact length of time needed for two people to shack up together in a barn to develop collaborative creative genius, I will only rest easy if the secret is guarded from evil villains.
Human – do I need to be? Granny’s coming clean confession: I am not a faithful reader, nor am I human, and furthermore, I did not even read the posts whose references I pilfered to sound well-entrenched in Idiot culture. I just get a little giddy at the mention of guinea pigs.
Pinky and the Brain’s Grandmother – though Brother King is technically not a lone wolf, I think he would dig being likened to the noble lupine. Too bad he’s in Amsterdam so we can’t make this particular iteration of the idea happen. But lo – there are surely others who might do…
Also, I don’t believe any of the things you said in your second comment. NOBODY gets giddy at the mention of guinea pigs. Busted!