Preface: Special Issue on Creativity Rethinks Science

Creativity does not arise as a gift. It may emerge as a combination of expertise, craft, knowledge, and culture. Studies in creativity look at the nurturing conditions, at the context and ingredients that may trigger creative acts. As creativity is widely recognized as a key element in today's societal developments, the importance of such studies goes well beyond the domain of artistic expression. Scientists and technologists are being increasingly invested with the responsibility of modelling and understanding creative acts. The dialogue between art and science has never stopped through the centuries of human civilization, although the seemingly diverging languages and tools have often put the ‘two cultures’ at friction in the contemporary world. However, experimentation is a concept that is familiar both to scientists and artists, and it should be possible to identify and define a number of common frameworks that provide an appropriate interaction set for genuinely multidisciplinary research