Creativity is a key word in contemporary culture, which appears in talk of creative economies, cities, communities, classes, institutions, and so on; and in relation to a wide range of disciplines—creative arts, creative writing, arts management, economics (the creative economy), town planning, and so on—where it names a key concept. It is also increasingly understood as an important ingredient in the experience of ‘well being,’ which is in turn becoming increasingly significant in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and in the context of the now rapidly unfolding disasters produced by climate change and apparently unresolvable conflict. And yet despite their significance, understandings of creativity and wellbeing are still largely Eurocentric and pay sparse attention to what these terms mean in other cultural traditions, where quite different cultural practices and cultural competences support them. These remarks provide the starting point for this discussion of the ‘Varieties of Imagination, Creativity, and Wellbeing in Asia,’ which asks whether these concepts, as they are understood and operate locally, might be linked to broader issues, e.g., power, politics, history, identity, agency, place, etc.? And also, to what extent this diversity has implications for the functioning of different social and cultural groups and, to that extent, for Australia, perhaps also the region, as a whole.

Convened by Vedi Hadiz (Director and Professor of Asian Studies at the Asia Institute) and Peter Otto (Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Executive Director, ERCC).

Participants: 

Dr Anita Archer (Co-convenor, ‘Inventing the Human’; Business Development Manager for Faculty of Fine Arts and Music). 

Dr Danny Butt (Senior Lecturer in Interdisicplinary Practice at Victorian College of the Arts). 

Dr Jon Glade (Japanese Studies, Asia Institute). 

Prof. Charles Green (Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Melbourne). 

A/Prof. Edwin Jurriëns (Associate Professor in Indonesian Studies, Asia Institute). 

Chris Parkinson (photographic artist, arts professional and published author). 

Nur Shkembi (art historian, curator, and writer, who was part of the core team that established the Islamic Museum of Australia, serving as the museum’s inaugural Art Director and founding Curator).