Course Description
Changing Creativity, ART 8
Explores creativity as a changing concept in historical and contemporary terms from the perspectives of producers, consumers, and institutions. Encompasses international perspectives and the role of new technologies in considering creativity as a resource for innovation and social change.
Key Information
Credit: 4 quarter units /
2.67 semester units credit
UC Irvine, Art
Course Credit:
Upon successful completion, all online courses offered through cross-enrollment provide UC unit credit. Some courses are approved for GE, major preparation and/or, major credit or can be used as a substitute for a course at your campus.If "unit credit" is listed by your campus, consult your department, academic adviser or Student Affairs division to inquire about the petition process for more than unit credit for the course.
UC Berkeley:
Unit Credit
UC Davis:
Unit Credit
UC Irvine:
General Education: IV
UC Los Angeles:
Unit Credit
UC Merced:
Unit Credit (see your Academic Advisor)
UC Riverside:
Unit Credit
UC San Diego:
General Education: Revelle - Fine Arts; ERC - Fine Art; TMC 1 course toward lower division disciplinary breadth if noncontiguous to major
UC San Francisco:
Unit Credit
UC Santa Barbara:
General Education: Area F-Arts
UC Santa Cruz:
Unit Credit
Course Fees
None
More About The Course
Art 8 is a GE Category IV course open to all UC undergraduates. The course explores creativity as a changing concept in historical and contemporary terms from the perspectives of producers, consumers, and institutions. Art 8 encompasses international perspectives and the role of technologies in considering creativity as a resource for innovation and social change. Creativity will be interrogated as something all people possess, but that few get recognized as having. Art 8 asks why so many don't see themselves as "creative," even though they inventively solve problems all the time. Using media, texts, and hands-on projects, the course will look at the philosophy, psychology, economics, and science of creativity.
The textbook for this course, Anxious Creativity: When Imagination Fails (2020), is an open-access e-book available as a free download from the UCI libraries, Amazon, and Taylor & Francis publishers, among other sources.
Course Creator
David Trend
David Trend is Professor of Art and Visual Culture and Faculty Director of the Inclusive Teaching Institute at the University of California, Irvine. He holds a PhD in Curriculum Theory and an MFA in Visual Studies. His recent books include Update Available: The Algorithmic Self (2023), Anxious Creativity: When Imagination Fails (2020), and Elsewhere in America: The Crisis of Belonging in Contemporary Culture (2016). He has held positions as Dean of Creative Arts at De Anza College and systemwide Director of UC Institute for Research in the Arts. Honored as a Getty Scholar, Trend is the author of over 200 essays and a former editor of the journals Afterimage and Socialist Review. He lives in Los Angeles.
David Trend is Professor of Art and Visual Culture and Faculty Director of the Inclusive Teaching Institute at the University of California, Irvine. He holds a PhD in Curriculum Theory and an MFA in Visual Studies. His recent books include Update Available: The Algorithmic Self (2023), Anxious Creativity: When Imagination Fails (2020), and Elsewhere in America: The Crisis of ...David Trend is Professor of Art and Visual Culture and Faculty Director of the Inclusive Teaching Institute at the University of California, Irvine. He holds a PhD in Curriculum Theory and an MFA in Visual Studies. His recent books include Update Available: The Algorithmic Self (2023), Anxious Creativity: When Imagination Fails (2020), and Elsewhere in America: The Crisis of Belonging in Contemporary Culture (2016). He has held positions as Dean of Creative Arts at De Anza College and systemwide Director of UC Institute for Research in the Arts. Honored as a Getty Scholar, Trend is the author of over 200 essays and a former editor of the journals Afterimage and Socialist Review. He lives in Los Angeles.
