School of Life Sunday Sermon: Will Alsop on Boredom

Will Alsop the most playful of contemporary architects shows us the potential of creative boredom.; ‘Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience.’ – Walter Benjamin; There’s a boring bit in the process of painting a picture where you’re left watching the paint dry. If you keep painting over wet gloss before it sets you make a mess. The reward of waiting is that when you’re forced just to sit and look new possibilities start to appear.; This argues Will Alsop is a luxurious dreaming kind of boredom. It’s vital to creating something fresh. It’s the irreplaceable pause where we have the space to reflect from inside the process.; But these days we fear empty time. So we don’t allow ourselves to indulge in just looking at the thing we’re creating. Instead managers rush ahead with fixed procedure rather than trust the wisdom of intuition or experience. And parents leap to fill the holiday void with excitement and entertainment rather than letting the child fall back on imagination.; Without the kind of boredom that gives space for creativity and reflection we risk the dullness of an uncreative life. The paint never dries and we make a muddy mire of things.; Fortunately the most playful of contemporary architects is here to show us how we can indulge in the glorious potential of creative boredom.; Will Alsop OBE is the most exuberant visionary architect working in Britain today. He is has brought fresh vigour to the field by abandoning ‘acceptable’ style and emphasizing the joyful in everything he does. He is best known internationally for his designs for Peckham Library in London Glenwood Power Plant in Yonkers New York and the Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. He is a Professor at the University of Technology in Vienna.; TICKETS: £15.00