Against Creativity

Reviews / Votes

Superb, thought-provoking. Mould turns the notion of the 'creative worker' on its head. * Pop Matters * A blistering critique . a pointed polemic that makes frequent and telling connections between creativity and social inequalities. -- David Beer * OpenDemocracy * This book mixes personal experience and sharp sociological analysis in a highly entertaining takedown of one of today's most important ideological tropes: creativity. Oli Mould takes the reader on a rather intimate tour behind the flashy scene of creative work, creative people, creative politics, creative technology and, of course, the creative city. Fortunately, he doesn't leave us in the real dystopia we discover along the way but shows us that a truly creative world is possible. -- Sebastian Olma, author of <i>In Defence of Serendipity</i> For the past 20 years, creativity has been ubiquitous, an essential part of designs for office interiors, inner-city makeovers, and boosterish attempts by governments to redescribe precarious parts of their economies. It needs to be taken seriously - but it also, arguably, needs to be taken down. In this provocative, and often funny book, Oli Mould points up the absurdities of the creative economy, and some ways we might think beyond creativity. -- Richard J. Williams, Professor of Contemporary Visual Cultures, University of Edinburgh There are few personal and collective traits that are prized more highly in neoliberal societies than 'creativity'. In this powerful and well-aimed critique, Oli Mould lifts the veil on this ideology, to reveal a set of economic and political forces, pushing all of us to bend to the needs of capital. -- Will Davies, author of <i>Nervous States</i> [A] bold plea for truly creative urban thought and action . Creative, that is, in a wide range of subversive but always social ways, and not only outside but against the softly suffocating hegemony of authorized versions of the Creative-Cities script, in all its banal ubiquity. Not before time, this is the creative city turned upside down. * Jamie Peck, Canada Research Chair in Urban & Regional Political Economy and Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia [Praise for Urban Subversion and the Creative City] * Thorough, engaging and critical in spirit, and is packed full of theoretical insights and colourful examples of what the author calls 'urban subversion'. Mould is keenly immersed in his subject matter, and his enthusiasm for it is both obvious and infectious. This is a book which every human geography and urban sociology student should read, and would enjoy at the same time * Robert Hollands, Newcastle University, UK [Praise for Urban Subversion and the Creative City] * In this fascinating, meticulously researched, truly global book, Oli Mould introduces us to the creative city of subversion and desire. A much needed act of liberation from the official terrain occupied by the creative class. * Professor Roger Keil, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University [Praise for Urban Subversion and the Creative City] *