General Genii
By John Coop,
The intermittently-published architectural journal, Interstices—which has chalked up seven issues in 17 years—won’t be on most summer reading lists. Bursting with deeply intellectual material, it’s not for the faint-headed.
Interstices #7: Gen-ius, Gen-ealogy
Edited by Laurence Simmons (Enigma), 2006. $32.95. Available from Mercury Subs
Despite its relative obscurity, though, Interstices #7 is timely for anyone interested in collaboration and creativity. Dubbed ‘Gen-ius/Gen-ealogy’, this issue explores genius and genealogy as separate threads in the creative decision-making process.
Although the focus is on architecture and art, Interstices will appeal to many creative people outside the architectural community, given the importance of ‘genealogy’ in the creative process.
The journal’s essayists, including Thomas Mical, Carl Douglas, Mark Jackson and Laurence Simmons, give varying perspectives on the importance of collaboration in a world increasingly populated by specialists.
Interstices explores the differences between the work of an inspired individual (genius) and collaborative endeavour (genealogy). In this sense, Interstices reminds me of Ove Arup: Master Builder of the Twentieth Century, Peter Jones’ biography of the engineer famous for his work on projects like the Sydney Opera House. Arup was an avowed genealogist. His goal was to fuse the language of architecture, engineering and allied disciplines to address the complexities of large-scale projects that are too great for an individual mind to do justice.
Whether you subscribe to the ‘composite mind’ theory, or prefer to rely on more random strokes of genius to achieve great creative outcomes, Interstices is a rewarding read.
Who knows, it may well change the way you work—or even who you work with.
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