Art isn’t found only on the canvas, the stage, or the page. Sometimes, says David Greusel, creative expression is found on the spreadsheet:
Let’s interrogate the self-described non-creative person a bit more. He or she likely works in an office, where the inbox is filled with memoranda and spreadsheets. Drawing and painting seem as remote as a Tahitian island.
But let’s look at her work a little more closely. That spreadsheet, for example—the one that evaluates a range of vendors, their costs and ostensible benefits. For most of us, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is a tabular array of numbers. Many of my architect peers don’t even know that Excel has mathematical functions built into it. In the hands of this imaginary worker, however, a spreadsheet is a nearly-magical tool that allows the exploration of a multiplicity of options at lightning speed. Our “non-creative” friend has written formulae that analyze, compare, project, and slice the vendors’ data from every conceivable angle, the way a sculptor analyzes a stone before taking a mallet and chisel to it. Embedded in seemingly boring rows of numbers is a great underlying intelligence, enabled by Microsoft but applied by our friend, getting at the real meaning of the vendors’ data while stripping out all of the superfluous chatter. A spreadsheet that presents information clearly, so that it can be understood easily and used to make decisions, is indeed a beautiful thing.
April 11th, 2011 | 6:30 pm
Edward Tufte 101.
April 12th, 2011 | 8:57 am
One of the best arguments for learning as much as you can about everything is that it allows you to appreciate the art that Greusel’s talking about.
Another is that it allows you to get a lot more jokes that you’d otherwise miss.
April 12th, 2011 | 10:36 am
I’m a more-or-less seasoned traveler, with almost 50 years of flying experience. Even so, every time I get on an airplane I reflect on how the human ingenuity reflected there gives glory to God.
Not just the amazing machinery which can whisk 200 people to 30-thousand-plus feet and deposit us on time at a destination. Nor the skill of those up front, who can guide this huge machine to and fro. But the whole enterprise, organized to satisfy a want or need to move quickly, safely and comfortably from one place to another on the globe.
Praise God for the privilege of being human, created in His image, with the ability to exercise such dominion over the creation entrusted to us!
April 12th, 2011 | 11:06 am
Yes, solving technical problems takes creativity, but there’s no need to conflate it with art.
April 12th, 2011 | 11:19 am
That’s right, Mike. Something can only be art if it’s of no practical use!
April 12th, 2011 | 2:48 pm
mike, I don’t think he’s conflating it with art, I think he is asserting that it takes as much creativity as art. Or more, actually.
As a former actor, musician, and playwright, I would say he is spot on.
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