Creativity needs constraints. But these days it can be hard to know where the boundaries are. Black-boxed algorithms, contingent publics, and the continuing devolution of institutional authorities leave creative people the task of laying their own foundations for creative practice.
For the five groups highlighted below, that new foundation is collaboration itself. They’re proof that personality, communication, compromise – the classic constraints of getting along with others – can be leveraged to take on subjects that may seem too daunting, too unwieldy, too risky for an author acting alone. By taking the leap together, they germinate not only new ideas, but new models for creative living.
Whoa, Vol. 2: Conversations on AI × Creativity
While most apps promise to simplify your life, the Sublime app is set on enriching it – helping you see connections across all the things that inspire you while contributing to a wider shared network of ideas. Similarly, their latest release Whoa, Vol. 2: Conversations on AI x Creativity, doesn’t shrink the debate over AI into binaries, but expands it, going in depth with major thought leaders (e.g., Mills Baker, Seth Godin, and Oliver Burkeman) to give you access to the messy, nuanced ideas of these real people doing real creative work.
AI+MUSIC. CONTEXT + USES + ETHICS: Artificial Intelligence in Music Ecosystems
Want to move beyond the usual hype and fear for a more grounded discussion of AI? FUTURX is doing just that with its release AI+MUSIC: Context + Uses + Ethics, co-published with LARROSA. With over 150 members across 20 countries, this Spanish language global R&D initiative is cultivating a decentralized, future-facing community rooted in ethical exploration, collective learning, and the messy, generative space between code and creativity.
Living Room Sessions Zine #1: Cosmic Sans Software
For a playfully deconstructive approach to the representation of AI, look to The Institute for Machine Unlearning. Billing itself as “a para-academic playground for collective unlearning and feral pedagogy,” the group’s IRL workshop “Living Room Session #1: Remixing Better Images of AI” resulted in its first Metalabel release, Cosmic Sans Software. The zine brings together a raw and wild abundance of collectively authored collages to humanize our imaginations of AI.
Pathless Collective
Everyday human experiences of love, parenting, and work provide opportunities to step into the unknown. Pathless Collective, a publishing project and peer-led community bound by the concept of moving away from scripted ambition toward more meaningful and uncertain directions, has released Unwritten: Crossing the Threshold – a collection of stories about people choosing to transcend the ordinary.
The Department of Transformation
The Department of Transformation is an artist-led collective prototyping how we gather, learn, and change together. All their releases, whether designed to be used solo or in community, online or in person, create structures for embodied insight. With their latest release Cellular Balance Workbook, created by Rachel Herring, DoT helps you reimagine your relationship with your smartphone through practical strategies for restoring attention and intention.