“Soon writers will be the only artists left”: Panic in the face of technology?

Earlier this year, online journal thethingis.co.uk published an article with the premise: ‘Soon writers will be the only artists left’. The writer in question draws on established viewpoints that technology has taken the originality out of art, as the increased developments of technology have stunted creativity and replaced any need for talent or hard work. However, writing has been spared the tirade, described (by the writer) as the last remaining ‘pure’ form of art. I want to put forward a slightly different take on this technophobic argument.

Andy Warhol noted that everyone would get his or her 15 minutes of fame. The writer recognises this point, claiming “Art [became] no longer about the hand that drew… it was about…the ability to promote it”. He criticises people’s focus on ideas, but then complains that “Big ideas are dead”. It doesn’t work both ways. Moreover, surely art and ideas go hand in hand? And creation and artistic innovation can only occur through the promotion and distribution of ideas.

Writers become the ‘last ones standing’ in the eyes of the romanticised art disciplines, as literature is ‘pure’, free from the corruption of technology. But wasn’t 50 Shades of Grey, the fastest selling paperback of all time, first released online as fan fiction? It was not only written, edited and improved, but made popular, through technology. Whether or not we treat 50 Shades as ‘literature’, the book’s success still proves that far from writers “still work[ing] by hand, unaided, transcribing the contents of his heart without a computer to interpret his brush strokes or iron out the flaws in his voice”, they survive on technology as much as any other creative discipline.

Writing takes skill no matter what medium it’s put on – paper or electronic, just like any other art form. Perhaps writers aren’t aided in the same ways that, for example, Instagram aids photography? In this sense, literature may be distinct. But just because there isn’t yet a ‘WriteaBook’ app (yet) doesn’t mean that writers should be placed on a pedestal above musicians and other artists.

Thethingis.co.uk acts as though the wool is pulled before our eyes, claiming that “the dumb terminal is not the machine, it is you”. It’s too conspiratorial and too generalising. There are many people, activists and celebrities, who fight against airbrushing to extremes. The point I’m trying to make is that so many people assume technology is a way of cheating and shortcutting, and that it’s killing artistic disciplines. This is not always the case.

Computer-aided art has not replaced manual, traditional art. As times change and technology becomes ever prevalent in our lives, the creation of programmes like Autotune and Instagram become inevitable. We must make room for new art forms that make use of, and do not decry, technology. New experiences and innovation allow for artistic ideas to bloom, and technology cannot be excluded from this. It’s not all doom and gloom ahead.