No Paris, No Impressionists : How Place Affects Collaborative Creativity

Sammanfattning: The focus of this study is on creativity and how place can affect it. Previous research on the subject has provided many answers to how and why places affect creativity, much because of the fact that a place can be such many things: a work place, a university, a city, a country – the list is endless. Studies have as such provided different answers in regards to the impact place can have on creativity, because they have investigated the impact of different sorts of places. However, what these studies have failed to clarify or acknowledge is that places exist within the boundaries of other places, and are as such inseparable if one are to ultimately understand the impact place has had on a creative outcome. In order to address this problem I have divided the concept of place into three abstract and physical levels: macro, meso, and micro. By applying this perspective on the historical example of the emergence of the Impressionists in Paris, France during the latter half of the 19th century I was able to distinguish how France as a nation, Paris as a city, and buildings such as cafés, artistic studios, and museums all contributed in different, but equally important, ways to the formation, cohesion and creative output of the Impressionists. As such, this study serves as an example that shows how collaborative creativity emerges within the boundaries of several places positioned on different abstract and physical levels; thus, it is only when we combine the different ways that each of these places contribute to creative collaboration that we are able to make any conclusions in regards to the impact place has had on its formation and creative output.