Austrian artist Addie Wagenknecht commented on Klein’s work in her Alone Together paintings, in which she used an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner and the same colour. She hacked the robot to become “the pencil” and deployed her own body as the boundary for the robot. So here it is, the Roomba is doing the work instead of hired models, and the artist directing the “brush” is the boundary. Her work constructs a comment on labour—who the artist is—and challenges the notions of art and creativity from half a century before.

Creative expression changes over time and reinvents itself in response to technological advancements. Thousands of years ago, art was primarily created using simple tools such as paint made from natural pigments and brushes made from animal hair. The invention of new tools and materials, such as the paint tube and canvas, in the 19th century, enabled new styles, like Impressionism and Pointillism to develop. Photography—invented some years later—also had a profound impact on art, allowing artists to create realistic images that could be reproduced and easily manipulated.

In the 20th century, the rise of new technologies such as film, video, and digital media led to the development of new art forms from movies and video to digital art. These new technologies have also made it possible for artists to create works involving movement, sound and interactivity, leading to new forms of performance art and installation.

As we will see in the following chapters, expressing ourselves creatively—now and in the future—is not limited to the words we use or how we move our limbs. Creativity has always been about new ways of combining human imagination with different sets of technologies. It’s the unique combinations, techniques, mediums and branding that make compelling products of creative expression—rarely a single mark, a single line of code, nor a medium or tool of itself.

Neither is it usually the work of a single human being or processor. We create and build together. We borrow, inspire, borrow, inspire again, borrow even more. ¹ Scenes are formed and that’s how creative expressions are accelerated and later contextualised and understood. ²

Collaborative Foresight

This book features three futures envisioned by a group of designers, artists, writers, musicians, scholars, technologists and architects. Through four immersive workshops, the group imagined, developed and revised a series of possible, preferable and alternative futures. While the foresight cycle was dubbed Futures of Creative Expression, it quickly became obvious that it is impossible to explore the future of creation without contemplating what the future holds for humanity in general.

Imagining futures in the plural gives us the tools to make sense of and adapt to uncertainty. An inclusive, collaborative cross-disciplinary approach can make those desirable futures more meaningful and tangible for more people and helps us prevent and prepare for less desirable ones.

AI and Web3

The perception of creativity as a uniquely human endeavour, deeply rooted in the talents and intent of human beings, is being challenged by the ever-evolving capabilities of artificial intelligence, rapidly gaining momentum as a powerful tool for artistic expression and experimentation. By utilising the capabilities of this set of cutting-edge technologies, artists can now produce highly realistic images and replicate styles reminiscent of famous painters and expressionist movements. However, this technology also raises important questions about the role of human creativity. Or rather, as Oxford University professor of mathematics, Marcus du Sautoy, expresses in his chapter, Collaboration not Competition, we should think about these new sets of technologies as a new best friend on our next creative journey. Similarly, artist and designer Barbara Schussmann in the epilogue, Exploring AI's Impact on Artistic Expression, reflects on the process of creating the illustrations for this book as a back-and-forth between her and various tools and technologies.

Web3 instigator Sorrel Salb furthers the discussion in her chapter, The Role of Web3 in Shaping the Future of Creativity. She argues that blockchain technologies enable creatives to build communities around themselves and their work and with that as a base, fund their projects without middlemen.

We are on the cusp of a new age of creativity. These questions and more will continue to shape its future. Rather than recommendations, the futures laid out in this work are some of the many ideas we explored throughout the months the group met. We invite you to reflect on these creative futures, find your own stance and continue your own journey of futures-thinking around creative technologies and tools.

Human development is, to a large extent, defined by our capability to create tools—tools for production, organisation, housing and creative expression. The sum of our efforts is culture. By being, seeing, listening and creating we shape society and we may, in fact, find ourselves. ³