Graduate-Level courses on Creativity:
Creativity in ARTs and Science (CARTS), and
Creativity in ARts, Design and Science (CARDS)
- Study of literary, musical, and visual (static and dynamic) artifacts
- Identification of intra-domain commonalities leading to existence of patterns of creativity
- Analogical correspondences between patterns in the visual domain and patterns in music
- Study of insightful observations made by scientists which have lead to landmark discoveries
- Lateral thinking with hands-on and its application in creative design
Graduate-Level course on Thinking Paradigms:
Patterns Of Problem Solving (POPS)
- Identification of domain-independent thinking mechanisms
- Evolution of guidelines to inculcate these mechanisms as human problem solving skills
- Development of illustrations/applications/situations to demonstrate their efficacy
- Guided tours on the development of some every-day artifacts from origin to state-of-the-art
Comments on CARTS and CARDS at IIM Bangalore
CARTS is one of the few courses in the entire curriculum at IIMB that transcends from myopic view of management education that attempts to box it into different disciplines. Professionals like us often find themselves enclosed in their tiny well of bounded rationality that is shaped by their professional orientation. A finance personnel’s world view is shaped by finance, a sales professional’s by sales, a software engineers by lines of codes.
Creativity is at the core of any value creation that management education strives to focus on. Whether it’s making the power of steam run a locomotive or playing a piece of music instead of a ring tone when you call someone’s phone, it’s all about the creative insight. Successful monetization of that creative insight is just incidental. Unfortunately in our day to day life we get so engrossed with the process of harnessing value out of the creative insight that the importance of the insight itself takes a backseat in our consciousness. In this backdrop CARTS comes as a refreshing experience which stimulates the brain to appreciate this creative insight and allows the process of harnessing value to take a back seat for a change.
The views expressed by the professor are subjective and the participants may completely agree, partially agree or disagree with them; however they force the mind to analyze and appreciate certain subtle and obvious traits of creativity in music, movies, visual art, literature and mathematics.
Last but not the least, a word of caution, this is certainly not a course for people who wish to learn some principles or theorem to be applied immediately in their work/profession or are looking for a course to add to credentials in their curriculum vitae.
Durjoy Guha Neogi
PGSEM, IIMB
Starting with the advice of learning to appreciate art and always keeping an open mind; to the emphasis on visual metaphors in music, this exploratory mode of learning in the CARTS course was quite unique. I myself found the course in sync with my mindset.
The Professor has devised his own unique insights and teaches them with gusto and a good deal of dedication, expounding his theories on musical and visual arts, the synchrony between audio and visual realms in films, art by masters such as Maurice Escher. Even literature was covered where particularly remarkable were the fascinating prose of Hugo, the lucid prose of Chekov and aspects on the reasons behind developing humour, handpicked by Professor Shekar Balasubramaniam.
Mathematical proofs that have a great deal of creativity in the sheer manner in which they were solved were also demonstrated step by step to highlight points of creativity. The course itself gives us a bird's eye view of the creativity in all artistic endeavors of human beings as well as in mathematics and does justice to this vast field in the given course schedule.
In a way it is also an analytical exercise by the professor; as if excavating evidence on what makes such integrated and holistic endeavors such as music and arts so affective to and resonating with the emotional side of humans.
Poetry can be an addition along with some aspects of science.
Shamit Bagchi
PGSEM, IIMB
First of all I was happy that this kind of elective was available in an MBA program.
I liked the subject because it is about self development and deals with learning about creativity in different fields. The biggest appeal to me was that the course included one major section on the creative work in music and cinema. There were numerous examples with audio visuals from the great works in the Indian as well as western film industry for discussions.
My learning from the course was mainly on how to understand and appreciate the creativity in different fields like music, cinema, drawings, literature etc. The subject also taught how to express this greatness in creativity using the correct technical terms. We could also learn on how to observe a piece of work in totality from all angles. With the live discussion and class participation one could see how the same creative work is appreciated from different angles by different persons.
Niloy Kumar Das
EPGP 2009-10, IIMB
The course on creativity (CARDS) to me was a welcome break for the mental muscles from the usual MBA rigmarole of finance, marketing and strategy. It allowed me in the depths of all my management learning to take some time out and appreciate the finer points of art in its various forms. The manner in which the course was structured and presented allowed for incremental learning, even for a novice like me. Anyone entering a CARDS session with cynicism parked at the door was able to learn and appreciate what was being taught. Another feature of the course that I also appreciated was the breadth of coverage, having equipped us with the basic tools in a certain area, Prof. Shekar would move on to the next and thus expose us to a greater breadth even though it was a single term course. And finally, one of the most important aspect of this course was the faculty preparation and thought that would go into each session and the related benefits to those of us attending.
Having gone through CARDS I find myself observing the variations and combinations that make a piece of music, a still picture or a motion picture move from the mundane to the extraordinary. Though I wouldn't claim to having become a connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, there is now however a first level of understanding beyond the obvious sense of 'it looks good'/'it sounds good'. I have always looked to movies, music and literature for relaxation and the keener senses only enhance this. I walk away with a basic structure to understanding the creative aspect.
Kedar G Poonja
EPGP 2009-10, IIMB
Erstwhile Senior Project Manager, Wipro Technologies
I had the privilege of attending Prof. Shekar’s course on Creativity. His use of aural and visual illustrations to explain several complex and often confounding facets of creativity is very unique indeed. During the lectures, Prof. Shekar lucidly ‘reconstructs’ some of the most profound and often taken-for-granted theories of mathematics which leaves the class spell-bound! His passion for the subject adds exponentially to the learning experience. I would recommend this as a ‘must do’ course to all those who wish to pursue a career in academic research.
Professor P C Narayan
Finance and Control Area
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
The course sensitizes the students to look at the creative elements in the form of details in paintings, emotions captured by phrases in literature, the power of simple yet powerful theories in science and of movies which have set new benchmarks. It is an experiential class with not just theory but interesting and substantiating material, which makes it lively and holistic in learning.
The course inspires to explore all the unseen movies, unread literature which have not only made a mark in their era but have lived beyond their times. Further, it evokes deep interest and passion for understanding and appreciating creativity and the beauty with which it unifies arts, literature and sciences.
Anshema Gupta
PGP 2008 - 10, IIMB
CARTS is a must-take course for IIM students – many of us being from engineering and hard sciences backgrounds, looking at and analyzing art and music introduces us to a new way of thinking (not structured & logical only but also affective) and to new areas that we haven’t thought much about before. Go into the course, not expecting to become creative yourself, but to learn to appreciate the genius and insight involved in creating a work of art or music that is appreciated by the masses, in making films that are remembered for years, in making people laugh through humor and in deriving the proof of complex theorems through simple insights and new perspectives. I myself benefitted in many ways, most significantly through coming out of the course appreciating orchestrated music, something I had a deaf ear to before.
Swati Verma
PGP 2008 - 10, IIMB
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