In our drive to monetise anything and replicate everything, we gave up a few essential skills many creatives took centuries to craft—confidence and exposure.

 

I am sure you've sat across the table from someone who informs you with glee that they have consumed 200 non-fiction books this year. How? How is it possible to read that much? If you've spent so much time reading what others have to say, how can you possibly do anything but replicate others? You glance down and notice, yep, they are wearing 'all bird sneakers,' and yep, that is a (fake Steve Jobs) Miyake turtle neck. From now on, you can breathe a sigh of relief safe in the knowledge that these folks aren't in the art game but in the imitation game. They mimic others; it’s not their fault. That is what social media has taught us to aspire towards; imitation. And the imitation business is what most 'creatives' today are in. Nothing wrong with that, except that it's short-lived, and Ai is 100% going to eat your lunch.

 

In the music business? Gamifying the musical algorithms to determine which 15 seconds of A-Ha will best supply the inextricably quick dopamine hit to the most disloyal audience that ever existed? You're no longer needed. Move over; Ava or perhaps Sydney need those T&A Solitaire headphones.

 

Are you creating websites or notion pages to make 'keeping up with the Jones' as easy as 123? Or perhaps you're in the business of stock imagery, delivering thousands of generic-looking images to support those generic-looking web pages with their generic-sounding playlists? Please leave your ID and Equinox gym pass at reception on the way out.

 

The same applies to restaurateurs and bookkeepers. Ai is coming for your calculator and colander. In fact, it applies everywhere, and maybe, just maybe, it's ok. And maybe, just perhaps, it's once again down to us.

 

My grandfather used to say (get ready for it) we Europeans (he probably said us English) create, and the Chinese copy. If that was true then (1983 or thereabouts), it's almost certainly not true anymore; we all moved into the imitation business with such rigor that not only does every car, every high street, every school kid, and every website look the same, they even smell and sound the same. 

 

I'm not sure it's all bad news. I can list hundreds of creatives, let's call them artists, who trust their gut every day and throw themselves into the work, exposing themselves to everything and anything in a bloodthirsty manner to create something THEY care about. They have never AB tested anything and don't think about whether they can monetise it well, they care that it makes them feel something.

 

In my eternal selfish search for what makes me excited and what I think will work, Ai has done one thing lately, and that is to simply reinforce that now more than ever, if you want to work and cut-through in the creative industry for fucks sake stop looking at what everyone else is doing and do what they aren't. 

If we don’t not only will life feel like a Xanax infused trip to the Westfield shopping mall we’ll also all be unemployed and not in a good way.

 

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This letter is brought to you by DB.

Are they in any way paying for this? No. I want to highlight a company that 100% does and creates things because THEY feel the need, based on their knowledge with confidence.

Plus, they also named the company after me. (Not really they used to be called Douchebags) Shit maybe it was named after me?

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Now back to the regularly scheduled program;

 

🧁 = (cupcake) Treat brain – easy to consume

🦪 = (oyster) More challenging - not for everyone

 

🧁

Severin Matusek has created an indispensable reference for anyone in the business of making today. One section of the book, Algorithmic Anxiety, touches on a condition that I think every 'creator' today can identify with. Myself included.

🦪

A fantastic walking tour of Japan from Kyoto to Tokyo. 963.48km, to be exact, documenting and talking to an aging population over toast. "For to walk is to apply the rigor of process to place." 

 

🦪

If you enjoyed season 1, season two of this show is not a disappointment—equally dark, complex, and compelling viewing. The show has had mixed reviews as it stereotypes male engineers as socially awkward perverts and detectives as unstable alcoholics?!

🧁

Factual, educational, and on par with David Attenborough. Diane Morgan and Charlie Booker make you feel as uncomfortable as ever.

 

🧁

Are any of you readers old enough to recall the Harry Enfield & Chums show? An iconic show from the BBC. It was the first time I was introduced to Kathy Burke, and I hadn't seen or heard from her in a while until now. The show is all about death, and I love it. “Who’ll be at your funeral?”

 

🧁+ 🦪

Platform.art 300+ galleries are represented by this service. It’s a little over one year old, and they do a magnificent job of searching, scouring, and curating to bring some exciting young artists to the surface.

🦪

I’m excited to see what happens here—a show opening in Amsterdam on 10th March around a topic that has increasingly become overshadowed by Ai. I am sure that this will be a fascinating debate.

 

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