Reading Roulette
Stories About the Art of Making Art
This week: How to widen your ‘idea tube,’ creative rulebreakers, and more
At Human Parts, we spend our days scouring the Medium platform for essays and perspectives we think our audience would love. Along the way, we stumble upon countless stories that surprise us — proof of the internet’s ability to deliver what we didn’t know we needed.
Each week, we’ll share a few of our favorites, along with recommended reading from across Medium, in a roundup we call ‘Reading Roulette.’ If you come across anything we missed, let us know in the responses!
“Repressive forces don’t stop people expressing themselves, but rather force them to express themselves,” wrote French philosopher Gilles Deleuze in 1985. Over 30 years later, writer and artist Jenny Odell used the quote as a jumping-off point for a legendary lecture (and later, a book) about reclaiming our attention — and creative spirit — in an era of endless distraction. When the world feels like it’s closing in on us, art is humanity’s way of prying it back open.
On that note, this week’s Reading Roulette explores creativity and expression — what it is, where it comes from, and how to cultivate it.
