We must create from a place that does not yet exist

If we ever want to do something new and be stretched to discover what is yet to be, then we must create from a place that does not yet exist. Pinterest, instagram, and stacks of magazines can be enormously helpful in gaining inspiration, but if that is our only source of ideas then we will only replicate what someone else has imagined. But where does one go to find new perspective? And how does one shed his or her preconceived conceptions of what should be?

Nature is always a perpetual muse, but this week it was in Louisiana, the Modern Art Museum located north of Copenhagen on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, that really challenged my outlook. Bringing the kids along was almost like cheating… their childlike perspective on each collection was invaluable. Their sheer pleasure at the sight of a diving board extending outside the building, enticing the eye to views of Sweden was so wonderful to experience.

Their desire to return repeatedly to the audio art installation that was nothing more than a dark room and the booming sound of a glacier melting was utterly compelling, as was their excitement at peering into the life of the glamorous and yet wholly human life of Elizabeth Taylor?

We had bribed them with the children’s wing, which was certainly more than enough to get them out of their pj’s and away from the computers, but in the end we could hardly tear them away from the museum altogether. Discussing their favorite exhibits really challenged me to stop seeing the world around me in rigid forms. Why can’t three mirrors set side by side not each offer completely different perspectives of the room they see? What happens if we seek new forms… fill a space… or empty it. What can exist that does not yet?

These are the questions we must begin to ask before diving into any endeavor… taking on the childlike innocence that is not afraid of seeing something new.