Marko Mäetamm (46) is an Estonian multimedia artist, working within the mediums of video, drawing, and the internet. Mäetamm studied graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and also studied practicing print technologies at the Swedish Royal Art High School. He has had solo and group art exhibitions throughout the world and has published two books, one under the pen name/moniker “John Smith” – a fictional conceptual persona occasionally used by Mäetamm as an alter-ego in his artistic projects – often, in collaboration with fellow Estonian artist Kaido Ole.
Veronika Valk interviewed Marko at PointB Roof Terrace in Williamsburg, USA.
What does creativity mean to you? It is such a worn out word.
I believe it is ability. And that you are born with it. You cannot get it out of nowhere, you cannot learn it. I have met people in whom I have not detected the slightest ounce of creativity and who do not understand the process, how it works, how you can create something that did not exist before. The ability to collect ideas from the world around you and spawn something out of it. For me, creativity is accompanied by curiosity, a heightened desire to exhibit yourself. Creativity entails a field that could be defined as communication with others. I do not believe in the kind of creativity where you keep creating and only for yourself – that is something different. It is rather more like you create and you want it to spring to life. And it springs to life thanks to a special kind of observation, sensitivity – perhaps there is no creativity anymore and it is more likely a sum of all the things listed above. A process comes into being and that process is creativity. If you look at creativity directly, you will not see it. However, if you look away, you will notice it. For instance, if you look at the keyword curiosity, you will begin to see creativity. Or you think ‘playfulness‘ and from the sidelines, from the periphery, you will sense that it is creativity. It is a tiny island that is born in the middle of it all out of the sum of various traits of the person. A grey murky soup, a puddle. Don’t know why it is there but if you possess certain traits, it leads to greater creativity.
Article: http://estonianworld.com/cultu...
