A Selfless Art

Evolution is co-created: when one species develops better defences its predator must adapt to counter them or find another source of food.

Cultures are co-created in the continual interactions of people seeking to define their shared and particular beliefs.

Societies are co-created through people’s co-operation and competition in the hope of a better life.

Marriages and friendships are always co-created, even when they are unequal, which is why they cannot be understood from outside.

Knowledge is co-created by philosophers, scientists and artists in dialogue with each other across time and space. It’s why people still read, learn from and argue with Aristotle or Buddhist texts.

Each human being creates a world to make sense of their experience and each of those worlds affects and is affected by other human beings, creatures, nature, climate, the moon and more.

The artist hero whose work is drawn entirely from their own genius does not exist: every artist, however rich their imagination and abilities, is shaped by others, just as they shape others.

Life is co-creation. It is not a thing, but an action. Life should be a verb.

But if everything is co-creation, is the term is meaningless?

No, for at least two reasons. First because recognising that everything is being co-created all the time changes how we see many things, including the ideas of universal value common in the Western art world. Secondly because that same recognition, if we choose, can lead us to change how we interact with others, including how artists who make co-creation a stated practice approach their work.