Art-ificial

The vast majority of my life has been planned around school terms, with the result that there has always been a long break in the summer.  Although I’ve often worked through some of that, it has nevertheless remained a welcome change from the usual routine, with the opportunity to finally finish long put off chores, reconnect with acquaintances, travel and soak up a bit of culture.

I have mentioned before that British culture is something that we perhaps should celebrate more, and personally one of the things I am most proud of is our free and fantastic museums.  I have just this morning been to the Fitzwilliam museum (preceded by scoffing a traditional recipe Chelsea bun from ‘Fitzbillies’) and continue to be blown away by the treasures packed into that relatively small space.  Today I fancied looking at paintings and a taste of artists’ work on display was as follows; Renoir, Seurat, Monet, Van Gogh, Turner, Augustus John, Ethel Walker, Picasso and many of the pre-Raphaelites.  Those are just the ones from the top of my head and it would actually be impossible (and likely boring) to name them all.  But bloody hell!  These are priceless pieces of art and I can’t get my head around the fact that we all have access to them.  Last week I went to the Victoria and Albert museum (East), followed by two other V and As (yes, really) also in London and also packed with treasures.  The utter joy of all of these wonderful freebies is the fact that you don’t feel obliged to stay longer than your brain can absorb and you can leave, confident in the knowledge that another visit is easily possible.  It’s amazing.

That confidence has wobbled a bit recently however - partly through political and economic trajectories (a whole other post) and partly because of AI.  Artificial Intelligence is something that has been impossible to ignore and isn’t something many of us want to think about - I am frankly frightened by it.  Enthusiastic embracers of this technology forsee their version of Utopia and that AI-ing the bollocks out of everything will produce a perfect world.  I beg to differ, but understand that the genie is out of the bottle and we have to learn to manage it.  Not unreasonably, many of us fear machine-induced Armageddon, though this actually isn’t new; in my lifetime the real and undiluted fear of nuclear threats between the USSR and USA were existential.  Similar dystopian scenarios existed before and there will likely be more in the future; the sense that the world could destroy itself quite easily has never really gone away - just faded into the background as we have learned to live with it, like we do with any risk I guess.  The difference however currently isn’t necessarily danger - although that is permanently present - it’s more that we could all turn into zombies or become some kind of sub-humans.  I can already feel my sharpness slipping away sometimes; spelling has got worse.  Why?  Because I don’t need to remember any of it - I can check it at anytime on the little computer we have with us at all times.  Likewise mental arithmetic and handwriting; mine is even worse than it was before.  I am irritated by my laptop finishing my sentences in emails, or the fact that it summarises received messages.  Are we too stupid to read and comprehend written information now?  At the same time - because laziness is often a default with humans - I don’t attempt to do anything to stop it, which is disappointing.

So where does Art fit into this?  Again, the idea of it being swallowed up by machines is nothing new.  I remember clearly when synthesisers emerged as a dominant feature in pop music (accompanied usually by very mediocre singing) and thinking this was the beginning of the end.  It is debatable as to whether these things have produced real harm and arguably the new timbres have created stimulating and exciting springboards for other exploration.  We have however still - just about - hung onto traditional music making and crafts - which I hope gives us all a bit of optimism.  We won’t be able to play Bach if the crafts of playing traditional instruments aren’t mastered and we won’t be able to improvise in any style if there isn’t an exchange of ideas and creativity.  And it is the need to humanly create that feels hopeful.  AI splurging out an ‘acceptable’ piece of background music quite obviously doesn’t tap into human emotions or spirit - it can’t.  Moreover it can’t eliminate the need to take part.  Most musicians don’t just want to listen deeply, they want to actually engage in the activity - otherwise what’s the point?  Audiences can usually sniff out the need for human spontaneity and spirit - which is why music festivals like the Proms continue to grow.  People want to hear real humans playing real music, responding to the moment, the room and how they feel as individuals.  There is also reams of evidence to show that humankind needs art and craft for brain health, mental health and physical health.  It’s not about being good at these things (though we know that practice of course always improves skills) - it literally is about taking part.  Interestingly, some of this is now being recognised in Scandinavian schools, and there are many environments now where screens have been taken away completely.  Children are returning to developing cognitively through physical engagement - writing with a pen, reading with books, listening to and taking part in music, adding and subtracting mentally, engaging in sports and physical activity and taking part in a variety of crafts and life skills.  Surprise surprise this is producing calmer and happier children with better brain health, physical well-being and a gradual understanding that AI should be used as a convenient tool, and no more.  It is all too easy to forget that taking part in activities - any activities - are often important because they give people pleasure - no more.  There is no other end game.  It doesn’t matter if a machine can produce a better piece of prose than I can - I’m going to do it anyway.  I enjoy it.

Uplifting music of the day: ‘Polly on the Shore’ by Coope, Boyes and Simpson.  Writing this post has made me want to engage with earthier sounds, and there is a story attached to this one.  At some point in the 90s I started to pop into folk clubs (I’ve always loved smaller music venues and spent most of my student years going to Ronnie Scotts, The Bass Clef and other similar venues… they were much more affordable then).  I was literally hit between the eyes with this group of three singers.  They were entirely acapella and I actually walked in whilst they were singing this tune.  It was instantly entrancing, but what really set my spirits soaring was hearing the audience participation.  It was almost prayerful; uninhibited, joyful and so egalitarian.  I became an instant convert.

Contemplative music of the day: ‘To the Lighthouse’ by Olivia Chaney.  I could have picked anything by this special musician.  She’s music college educated and is a multi-instrumentalist and wonderful singer.  But she somehow wears all of this lightly.  Her work is full of integrity and earthy female spirit.