Reimagination in art and science: Seeing the familiar in a new light and creating new things that didn't exist before.

Goldstein, Joseph L · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 2026

Where this comes from

Abstract

Many groundbreaking works in art and science owe their origins to the creative spark ignited by reimagination-the process whereby artists and scientists reinterpret and reframe past and existing knowledge, envisioning it in a new context that reveals new possibilities. Artistic and scientific innovation originating from reimagination brings to mind William Faulkner's famous line, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." [W. Faulkner, <i>Requiem for a Nun</i> (1)].