Why are we creative? Why are we not? In The Dialectic of Creativity, Hermann Vaske explores these questions in conversations with Marina Abramovic, Vivienne Westwood, David Hockney, Georg Baselitz, Bjoerk, Jeff Koons, Zaha Hadid, Christo, Yoko Ono, Damien Hirst, Jim Jarmusch, Shirin Neshat, David Bowie, and many more of the most influential creatives of our time, identifying the stimuli as well as the beta blockers, the killers of creativity: Spirituality, sex, money, fear, nurture, ambition versus censorship, self-censorship, bureaucracy, compromise, distraction, gatekeepers. Often it is those very blockages, the threats to creativity that allow it to thrive. A dialectical synthesis of opposites. Today, as we are facing an existential threat to our planet, it is time to come up with new ideas, more creative than ever. The Dialectic of Creativity explores all facets of creativity-artistic, intellectual, philosophical, and scientific. It is accompanied by a film trilogy and an exhibition.

As part of a personal quest, director Hermann Vaske explored the genius behind the world's most intriguing artists and thinkers for over 30 years. His interview partners include over 1000 luminaries, among them Academy Award and Nobel Prize winners, from the fields of visual art, music, acting, philosophy, politics, business and science, posing the question: "Why are you creative?" All of the participants also created an artefact for the project-some very personal, some bizarre. Vaske has exhibited these artefacts with considerable successin Europe. Exhibitions included the Museum of Communication in Berlin and the Espace Miramar in Cannes as part of the Cannes Film Festival. Now, 100 of the most interesting, fascinating answers are compiled in this book.