Creativity & Sustainability in the Digital Age at Google Campus, London

The evening starts with an interactive art piece by the beinghuman collective - not the usual start to an event – calm, peaceful, mesmerising, yet still sociable, interactive and fun! 

A visual sound piece, which invites the audience to participate by speaking into a microphone that in turn produces waves of iridescent light. The room at Google Campus becomes engulfed in sound and light vibrations, representing the participants in the room; almost forming a strange sense of an introduction to one another.

This becomes the first reference to how technology can be creative and be used as an art form in our now very much digital world.

Digital Technology now surrounds us, so much so, that we barely stop to think about the consequences - are we better off with or without it?

How many of us feel addicted to our technology, how often do you procrastinate and check your twitter wall just in case you miss out on something! Hellienne Lindvall opens up this conversation whilst explaining how she feeds her creativity into her writing. Describing that her mind is not as disciplined now; it wanders and goes in search of new and exciting ventures whilst it’s supposed to be focusing and perfecting her creativity. Perhaps, through our now impeccable skill of multitasking we lose a certain degree of quality. Creativity needs to wander, but in an almost meditative way rather than a stressful way that us procrastinators take on!

And what of the effects of digital on us as communities, as human beings in the physical world? Our digital footprint when communicating to one another in the ‘real’ world seems to be increasing continuously; children now talk to each other through their phones when standing in line for the bus! Do we feel closer to one another now that we can talk with no time or distance barriers? One would argue that for a conversation and interaction to become meaningful and have an impact then it needs to lead to some sort of physical output also.

Ken Banks, founder of kiwanja.net, devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change. He talks of how digital technology has in fact helped save people’s lives in countries such as Africa. The use of mobile phones help those who without would have no way of communicating to the outside world, have no voice to contribute to dialogue, to report violence or acts against humanity. They allow disenfranchised communities to share and be heard – this can only be a positive step for the growth of mankind, though it does make those who are better off feel and look bad!

How does the digital affect artists and creatives in the digital world?

Do you remember the traditional perception of ‘an artist’, a solitary creature slowly going mad through his own questions of creativity? How about that perception now, in the digital age; it would seem that more artists are in fact social creatures, finding refuge in a close network, or a group of like minded individuals and setting up artist collectives and artist led spaces. Digital technology has helped spread creativity through the masses, has brought people together that otherwise would never have met; consequently opening up a platform for the rest of us out there to join in and feel inspired also.

Tania from DACS raises the positive impact of digital activity for artists – how it not only promotes their work to a new and further audience, it enables a direct route of market. So, how many artists are online? A survey that DACS produced asking artists how they use digital technology shows that 85% of artists have their own websites, whilst 10% would want one but need help building it. Digital technology has also increased the rise of micro-philanthropy, donations, funding and simple giving towards artists through websites, social media, and sites such as kickstarter and indiegogo. This indeed is a positive way forward for artists, but do the positives outweigh the negatives?

What happens to those artists whose work is available on the Internet, but without their permission? How do artists feel about this and what does it mean for their income and careers? According to DACS the medium wage for artists is approximately £10,000 and this number is ever decreasing. So what do our artists hope for, or perhaps the more sensible question – what do they need from us? Respect - Ask for permission from the creator.

The ultimate question here is would artists stop creating if they were forced to go into other jobs to sustain a decent quality of life? Perhaps, it is more a case of they wouldn’t have the time, or the inspiration, to create work of high quality and therefore artists would be even less valued.

Gaynor O’Flynn, director of beinghuman.com, explains how important the cultural industry is in the UK economy, in fact around 1.8 million creative people are hired! Yet it is still so very hard to understand the value of these creative individuals. So many artists are being asked to work for free and are undervalued, and are told that this is because they are promoting themselves. But as Gaynor says, they are also promoting the venues, the brands, the businesses, the galleries etc. If someone is going to make a profit out of using people for their talents then those people should also be receiving some sort of profit. This is what is fair and equal.

There were so many relevant and important points raised in this debate over our ever increasing Digital Age. It would seem that the conclusion is that we are in search of a balance, an equal weighing of new and old, of digital and physical, of computer and human. And the final question, how can we achieve this?