The scientific approach of this book transcends the limits of art literature in that it also develops geometric theories of gestures and distributed identities, also known as swarm intelligence.

We exemplify this approach in the framework of free jazz, which is a prototypical creative and collaborative art form. Leader artists such as John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, and Archie Shepp are presented in their strongest works and theories. A CD with new recordings of the group Tetrade (Jeff Kaiser on trumpet, Guerino Mazzola on piano, Sirone on bass, Heinz Geisser on percussion) is included.

The pillars of our theory of collaboration are built from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s flow, physicist Gilles Châtelet’s gestures, and computer scientist Bill Wulf's collaboratories.