The Fight for the Renaissance of Now
Hang on while we go for a quick ride through the murky past, back to the 15th to 17th Century Renaissance period. When we look backwards, we may find some sense in the AI and social chaos that’s happening right now.
Because those writing about the Renaissance period were focussed on art, literature & philosophy in Italy or France, particularly historians like Jacob Burckhardt (1860), we might have this vague sense that the Renaissance only happened to the elite class in Europe and only affected artistic or thoughtful pursuits. Those historians in the 1850s saw the period as a cultural liberation, a backlash of the stricter Middle Ages, “freeing the human spirit from the chains of feudalism and religion” (B. Vickers, the Univesrity of Zurich, 2002).
It would have affected everything, not only art and religion.
Since then, as Vickers points out, our collective knowledge of all sciences, mechanics, botany, astronomy, and astrology, magic, etc, has increased much further, as has our points of view of history — which cleverly painted out some talented women in past times. This has given us a great many arts that were outcasts of previous societies (witchcraft/magic, astrology, etc).
For any of you Humanities students, the Renaissance period is when these were first studied, in their terms, grammatica, rhetorica, poetica, historia, and philosophia moralis, or as I interpret it: grammar, written argument, poetry, history, and philosophy of ethics.
Which brings me to now. Our society is already consumed by materialism, by shopping mania. Meanwhile, politics is driven by economic imperatives, pushing the arts and spiritual practice to the back catalogues. The budget of the ABC (Australian’s national broadcaster) is reflective of the arts importance to the Government. The budget is $1,083 million in 2023–24… compare that to a 1 MW nuclear power station which Liberal wants to build ($8.65 billion). So, somewhat important but not dire.
My point is, the liberal arts and indigenous arts are all separated out from the engine of the economy, largely subsisting on the purchases of rich people, upwardly mobile people, and tourists. More middle-class people these days view Kmart cushions than new gallery exhibits.
Government is at the margins of this battle in the arts. Australian Arts Council Literary grants went west, with the Prime Minister’s highly coveted literary awards replacing it. Last year, 643 entries were received across six literary categories: fiction, non-fiction, young adult literature, children’s literature, poetry, and Australian history. Six winners and a handful of finalists: I don’t like my chances.
But we do have many art prizes and publishing research fellowships; the latter sponsored by Queensland State Library. A well-schooled writer can apply for a fellowship, a research project, about history, heritage, indigenous life, poetry, and LGBTIQ+ works.
Rewind to the Middle Ages
The talented arts of creative people remain something beautiful, as a tragic shift is taking place towards using AI for illustrations, writing, editing, research, and even writing papers. Most of us mid-to-late aged people can appreciate the differences of a human mind’s work, but who knows if babies brought up with an iPad in their hand will know the difference.
You can find real art at BlueThumb.
In a mindless grab for the dollar, AI is now employed in larger businesses too. Computer chatbots are regularly used for dealing with customers, some software companies spent huge on chatbots and AI automation and then fired hundreds of workers, and some content marketers use it to create loads of enthusiastic sounding social media posts. Most of us simply get frustrated as we have no real conversations during our working day.
Community over Capital
And although I am not in favour of kowtowing to a particular church dogma, our society seems to have gotten off-track with community mindedness and spiritual practice. Community volunteers are all in their retired years, and helping youth seems to have been forgotten in the ‘fight against teen crime’ here in South-East Queensland. Councils move the unhoused on, or sometimes allow it, as tents are popping up in many parks.
The mighty dollar has made rents unrealistic for those with casual work, the unemployed without friends, and those women and children who fled from harm. Rental house vacancies are rarer than Taj Mahal’s, with most rents being $400+ per week.
Slowly Shifting Sands
There is a lack of pulling together, and an AI machine-led world will only make this steadily worse. The arts, particularly writing books, is getting increasingly harder to make a real living from. Books proliferate (more rubbish than ever before) but book buyers do not. Illustrators are also struggling. The written word on social media and even in print is becoming full of BS, spun by the greatest bullshitter of them all… Not me, silly, Chat GPT.
Yes, it makes me wonder why I studied so hard and read the lines of Grammar Girl to get client books taut and terrific and grammatical.
Anyway, if you are creative and want to see the arts win over the copycats, the shortcut-prone and the capitalists, buy an indie-published book, purchase an original painting, or knit a radical cardigan. Finally, follow the artists but don’t steal — creativity is walking your own path.
