This was another experiment. A member of Learn to Swim was staying in a house on Ynys Môn which had a grand piano. While packing to leave, they put a camera inside the piano and hit record. With no prepared thought as to what might emerge, they sat at the keyboard and began with a chord...and the rest followed. A single take. Later that same day, they captured some film while walking along Traeth Coch and in the evening a simple edit and released straight onto our YouTube channel.

This story is shared because it's an example of allowing yourself to trust creative flow. When it works out (and it doesn't always), it's a unique moment, a very human experience. AI definitely has uses, but it can't be a substitute for this.

The Instagram Experiment

A new experiment on our Instagram account this year. Paul Klee talked about drawing as "taking a line for a walk". Some of our music is inspired by this: "taking a sound for a swim". Now we're applying that same idea with images ("taking a photo for a ride"?). Every day, take a mundane photo at a random point - only one attempt - and then manipulate it into something more abstract using various tools and filters (mirrors, kaleidoscopes, etc.). NOT involving any AI at all. It has to be done on the day and accompanied by a word or phrase which is in the air that day. Some days it will be nonsense, some days it won't be particularly good. All art must fundamentally be play.

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Other stuff
"I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up."

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's speech on accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 is often quoted but the whole piece is worth 12 minutes of your time. Watch it here: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/acceptance-speech/