As a creativity researcher, I explore fluid, shifting terrains and consider disruptive, boundary-crossing (at times transgressive) ruptures as an important element of renewal. In our CAS programmes, lateral thinking is synonymous with creativity. In short, lateral thinking is the ability to think beyond oneโs own discipline. There is, however, something dazzling about the term. Lateral thinking (i.e. thinking against the current or grain) carries a negative connotation if it seems to disrupt or even sabotage normal, routine operations. In German, the terms ยซQuertreiberยป (obstructionist, troublemaker) and ยซQuerschlaฬgerยป (ricochet) are not far off. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, self-proclaimed ยซQuerdenkerยป (contrarians) have brought the term into further disrepute. Lateral thinkers can think outside the box, but sometimes their thinking is simply awry (ยซverquerยป). The German philosopher Dieter Thomaฬ therefore speaks of ยซgestoฬrte Stoฬrerยป (literally, ยซdisturbed disturbersยป).
The term is seen in a positive light because new thinking often arises precisely when we wrestle free from routines and, if we have doubts, begin to think beyond prevailing beliefs and values. Although lateral thinkers can easily be annoying (contrarians certainly are), ยซQuerdenkenยป (lateral thinking) is necessary to view an object from a new perspective. In this respect, light and shade, rejection and admiration are closely related. Etymologically, the terms quer and queer have the same root, at least in German. ยซQueerยป derives from German quer (originally ยซkwerยป). It entered English in the 16th century. In American English, ยซqueerยป means something like ยซstrangeยป, ยซcrazy,ยป ยซquestionableยป or ยซwrong.ยป In the gay rights movement, the phrase ยซWe are here, we are queer, get used to it!ยป became a battle cry against homophobia and violence against LGBT people in the 1990s. As a result, the former negative attribution of ยซqueerยป lost its derogatory potential.
The mutual attraction (even elective affinity) between ยซquer denkenยป (thinking crosswise, against the current) and being queer means that disruptive moments enter art, the everyday world and science. They are eventful and processual. Those who act and feel quer/queer think against the grain, change perspectives, break rules and must likely also balance out crises and uncertainty within themselves. Querdenken (lateral or maverick thinking) and queerness thwart a binary either/or logic (contradiction) and instead favour non-binary logics of both/and (ambiguity), neither/nor (paradox) and interstices, gaps and diversity.
What might a degree programme that addresses such issues look like? Offering a programme that raises awareness of quer- and queerness means accepting disruption as a moment that breaks through. In a sense, ZHdK as a so-called ยซcreative cityยป, encourages institutionalized thinking against the tide, which, paradoxically, calls for disrupting the disruptions practised here. Besides: You need to swim across a river to discover the strength of its current. And if you are interested in its source, you need to swim upstream, against the tide.