Most often,
entrepreneurship is framed as a West Coast, technology–driven vehicle for
innovation and profit. The product developer in this scenario is often an
engineer, his or her work channeled by market vision or need and supported by
venture capitalism.
This is a limited
vision of entrepreneurship and one that does not acknowledge the full potential
of the discipline. In “Art Production Beyond The Art Market?,” art historian and artist Caroline
Jones discusses the problematic model in which “research is instrumentalized
toward an existing paradigm,” either looking for new ways to meet the same old
needs or deploying the same old processes in the face of new challenges.
Jones argues for an
injection of artistic process in research and development. This begs the definition
of artistic practice, and Jones answers in part with the “ludic moment” – a
stage of spontaneity and undirected play.
What if we not only step away from
existing paradigms, but also, for a moment, strip away the push to
instrumentalize process in the first place? What if, on the way to
usefulness, we engage in seemingly useless activities? What if we start with
Play?
Artists are very
good at this.
We explore things all
the time that the market might consider pointless. We explore not only the possible, but the seemingly
impossible, and even the seemingly useless.
Now, the ludic
moment is a stage. If we stay forever in the ludic moment, we literally starve to death.
But if we never engage it, we fail to thrive.
While working closely with project architects in designing sculptural aspects of the Getty Museum grounds, artist Robert Irwin said that if architects are going to call
themselves artists, then he should be free to call himself an architect. These days, people
who think independently and take risks in any field might be crowned “artists”
and this is reasonably offensive to trained artists.
But if we leave
titles out of it, and inspect process, we see that artists, engineers, business
people, leaders – anyone involved in revolutionary thinking - all engage the
game of aesthetics.
I am borrowing here a definition of aesthetics given by Erik Demaine, Professor in Computer
Science at MIT. He refers to the aesthetics of math as a realm in which a
concept is pursued for its intrinsic beauty, without regard for its
application. This is a sound starting point for innovation. Eventually, innovation
must pass the test of application. But first, we must play. Seriously.
There is a high
failure rate in discovery and innovative practice. Many ideas do not survive outside of the ludic
moment. But to instrumentalize the ludic moment is to try to arrive before
heading out the door. To stop before starting.
Entrepreneurship
acknowledges the likelihood of failure – it relishes failure as a learning
tool. Rapid prototyping is essential so that flawed ideas, products, or
services can fail quickly and provide feedback to the larger initiative,
whatever that might be.
Arts-based entrepreneurship
goes a step further. In a collaborative, inter-disciplinary environment biased
toward action and a search for meaningful application and visionary perspective,
arts-based entrepreneurship supports the ludic moment.
