Improvisation: Between Technique and Spontaneity

by Marina Santi (editor)

Underpinning this project is the attempt to grasp the notion behind improvisation and to understand what is actually meant by 'improvisation', its nature and its construct. At the same time this project aims to bestow on improvisation its legitimate role as a versatile, long-lasting creative process of knowledge and action. The word 'improvisation' is used to describe a host of very different things. It can be considered a collective, creative phenomenon, an individual skilled performance, an emerging act within a rooted practice, or as a set of generative techniques, yet there are a number of issues with its concept and practice. In improvisation, shared practices, steeped in culture and history, are intertwined, yet constantly exposed to the force of spontaneity and innovation. All the studies presented in the book contend that improvisation in artistic practices could hold the key to understanding the more unstructured, at times more unconscious, forms of improvisation that pervade different fields of knowledge and professions, as well as our everyday experiences.

170 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2010