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Foreword

What is common to art and science? Creation. Or rather the drive that impels creativity. The thrill of the word and sound, of the color, lines and shapes of art. The temerity of the scientific hypothesis which extends beyond reality. What is the aim of a creative act in art or science? To surpass reality. Art suggests the infinite variations of reality’s manifestations, which are impossible to capture with the usual senses. That such expressions are part of a long and complex chain is all that we know.

One of my teachers at Oxford, a Nobel prizewinner, said: “We should seek what others have not seen, think what others have not thought of.” Is that not the essence of creation? Malraux lucidly stated this in a text on cultural heritage written in 1936: “The convincing force of a work … lies in the difference between it and the works that preceded it.” He illustrated the subject by quoting Giotto, but could have made his point just as well by discussing Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Occasionally, when science reaches beyond its frontiers, it merges with philosophy. Likewise, art can be dematerialized—boiled down to pure ideas. Artists exercise the same self-discipline and rigor as scientists.

Creation, whether in art or science, is a long journey. Some believe that youth is a prerequisite of creativity. This is not necessarily the case. We obviously all admire Mozart’s precocity, but equally admirable is the expression of a maturer mind, one whose critical faculties have been nurtured over time and through experience.

It is difficult to be thrilled by anything that is too neatly served up. I do not particularly appreciate pure evidence, creations to which nothing can be added. I much prefer to come upon works in the making, which draw audiences into the exhilarating struggle of creation—in which anyone can be a co-creator, a participator in the act of creation. This is what I thought recently while listening to the great cellist Rostropovich who, at every performance, re-creates music with unparalleled enthusiasm: it is this invitation to share beauty that embodies the true act of genius.

“Dare to know”: such was the motto at Oxford. Perhaps the opposite is even more true: “Know how to dare.” To dare to invent, to innovate and create, to escape routine and provoke the unpredictable. As the days roll on, until the very end, we should fully reinvent each day itself and dare to paint it with fresh colors.

—Federico Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO (1987–1999)