I ended From the Fellow: Chapter 2 with the declaration:
“…the process and the practice of the process, I believe, will set us free. It will prove to us that we can absolutely create what we want in our lives and the world around us.”
I see this play out every rehearsal as we prepare for our upcoming TD AMPLIFY: Episode Three. Double, double, toil and trouble, the act of creative collaboration is a magical endeavour with twists and turns that culminate in what seems like a supernatural event. Each time the TD Incubator artists bring the myriad of internal and external processes to the Engineered Air Theatre stage in performance, I am reminded of this freedom gained by the courage to bring something into being. It ain’t easy, but the struggle is worth it.
That which sets us free should come with a bit of toil and trouble, and certainly I am not surprised that the creative process is under attack. These last few weeks, I have felt simultaneously hysterical and anesthetized to the encroachment of A.I. into my world. Though a possible, inevitable conclusion to artistic expression within a capitalist system, the defiance by artists to engage with what has been stolen from us, I believe directs us to dig deeper into what we are attempting to protect. It’s not just our livelihood. We are protecting the very thing that makes us human.
Art As Human
To what end are we offering over the very thing that makes us human? Does the use of A.I. as a creative tool give us better art? To cautiously engage with this question, I decided to dance with the devil a bit. The Google AI platform Gemini –– which I continually avoid –– I turned to and asked it to go about the business of defining art for me. Interestingly, it tells on itself immediately:
Art is a diverse range of human activities, creations, and expressions resulting from imaginative or technical skill, aimed at evoking aesthetic, emotional, or intellectual responses. It serves as a form of communication that often expresses what language cannot.
Following the explosion of public debate around the Calgary Public Library’s announcement, “Creative Artist in Residence – AI Collaborative Artist,” it seems the Calgary artistic community has spoken. Yet we know the conversation is all but over. Tech companies, media and leaders of numerous industries seem to want artists to leap over the gaping, unethical, and ultimately incompetent valley of A.I. To quote local brilliant poet, writer and educator Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike, we artists are resisting “the system of plunder” being levelled against us. So again, what is it that artists are fighting for?
Our Ability to Create
We have this immeasurable power that builds the world we live in. Our engagement in creativity is an act that, at its very essence, makes it possible for us to create ourselves, the world, and our perception of it. Art collapses the boundaries between these things. Art points to that space between these things. The infinite potential of creation.
Standing in front of a painting, watching the movement of a dancer and the feeling of a bass line through a subwoofer; these moments are facilitated through artistic expression, and I believe we take for granted the opportunity for transcendence. Because artistic expression includes every draft, every edit, every moment that precedes its final expression. Art is not the product but the culmination of the process that brought it into being.
I wish there were some way I could show you, dear reader, what exactly happens in our collaborative creative process leading up to these TD AMPLIFY shows. These 60-minute performances, in truth, cannot begin to fully express the 32+ collective hours spent together making something from nothing. The bonds made, broken and made again, the experiments gone awry or accomplished, the moments of mystery, magic and mayhem. Though we aim for the stage like a flaming arrow shooting into the dark, what is truly born of these collaborations will always be something larger than the sum of its parts. I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand why we’d want A.I. to replicate the very act of creation.
So, let’s get clear, shall we? When I ponder the question, "What does A.I. do for me?" I am easily able to respond.
As an artist, A.I. gives me nothing. It gives me nothing that I do not already have.
Yet here we are, and we are going to continue to be. By its own definition, A.I. will never be able to create art. But what I believe A.I. is actually doing for us is forcing us to answer the question of whether we value the humans making it. I know what my answer is, but, dear reader, do you?
Final Homework
Be you an artist or not, answer me these questions three. If you like, come find me online through my website or on Instagram (@kennaburima). Because I believe that if we can engage with these three simple questions, we can then tackle the why in Why A.I.?
1. What is an artist?
2. What do you believe is the role of the artist in society?
3. What do artists need?