Global Arts: East Meets West. Creativity and Cultural Interchange in the Early Modern World

Over the last few years three different institutions: The History Department at Warwick University, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London have been separately investigating the historical relationship between East Meets West, via ideas and objects connected with the arts. A 'Network on Creativity' provides an exciting opportunity of collaboration between the University and the Museum world. The project will draw together the networks of expertise and resources of each institution, collaborating in an interdisciplinary exploration of the impact of cultural interchange on creativity during the early modern period (c.1400 - c.1800) with some comparison with the ancient and pre-modern period. The project, focusing on 'Creativity in Material Culture' will investigate the impact of global perspectives, and especially the impact of connection, rather than divergence between East and West in generating creativity and innovation. At Warwick historians of science, technology, economics and culture are examining how webs of specialist artists, artisans, and entrepreneurs/merchants fostered the invention of new products, materials and processes. Originally, the research at Warwick focussed on European connections, but during the past two years this has become a new global history project. Members of the Warwick group have discussed "useful knowledge", a concept developed by Joel Mokyr in the 'Gifts of Athena' (2002), arguing that this concept now needs to be extended to look at knowledge transfers, adaptions, and innovation across the East-West divide. The major Ashmolean redevelopment plan is centred on the themes of 'Crossing Cultures - Crossing Time', focusing on the intermingling of cultural influences through trade, voyages of discovery and the transfer of technology and ideas. At the Victoria and Albert the re-display of the Fashion and textiles Gallery and the Ceramics gallery focuses on the creative inter-relationships between East and West. The V&A's recent "Encounters" Exhibition also explored this theme.