Electronic Life

In the Mix

In The Mix ≈ London

Late at Tate Britain – 6 October 2023

In The Mix ≈ London, Tate Britain Digital Studio

Both terms ‘in the mix’ and ‘London’ are associated with diversity and creativity — ‘in the mix’ with its mix of different genres and styles, and London with its mix of cultures and identities.

In response to Late at Tate Britain’s theme ‘Harlem Renaissance in London’, In The Mix ≈ London, led by Prof. Ed D’Souza and Sunil Manghani (University of Southampton), put forward an innovative and inspiring project working with members of Element, in collaboration with Tate Britain’s Young People’s Programmes, Tate Collective Producers.

The project was specifically designed to engage and empower members of Element to express their unique experiences, stories, and perspectives about life in the metropolis. Element collaborates on projects exploring purpose, motivation and creativity with care leavers. Their mission is to produce projects where young people develop their creative identities and are recognised as individuals with purpose and potential.

In The Mix ≈ London involved running a series of interactive and collaborative workshop activities facilitated through Tate Britain and their Taylor Digital Studio, which gave members of Element the opportunity to express themselves through the use of three generative AI tools – OpenAi’s Dall-E 2 (for image making) and Google’s TextFx (for writing) and MusicLM (for music). Using these tool participants experimented with and shared their personal stories, anecdotes, and thoughts about life in London, which were then woven into a collective narrative for a digital showcase at Late at Tate Britain (6 October). The public display of the work combined with opportunities for members of the public to also experiment with the AI tools.

The tool TextFX is an AI experiment designed to help rappers, writers, and wordsmiths expand their process. It was created by Google in collaboration with Lupe Fiasco, drawing inspiration from the lyrical and linguistic techniques he has developed throughout his career. TextFX consists of 10 tools which are free to use, each is designed to explore creative possibilities with text and language.

Another tool used was MusicLM, an experimental technology that allows you to generate your own synthetic music using just natural language prompts.

Participants produced over 10 minutes of unique music using numerous prompts, including: ‘aggressive shoe gaze with 808’, ‘atmospheric dream pop ascending into Elysium’, ‘London all is quiet the rain is coming’, ‘London is brilliant’, ‘neosoul RB song about Brixton’, ‘nightmare at SW1’, ‘hardcore hiphop jazz electronic’, ‘octopus driving a London bus’, ‘a hip op style rhythm for the streets of Kensal Rise’, ‘butter is yummy’, ‘Japanese flute sad’, rainy in ocean’, Notting Hill carnival dancehall basement’, spiritual sounds with hypnotic rhythms’, ‘coffee before you sleep’, ‘mischievous piano music with a triangle ting’, ‘facing salsa playing in East London’.

Each piece of music generated by the tool is approximately 15 seconds long. See if you can identify the specific clips based on the prompts above (in most cases a single prompt generates two versions, which run consecutively):

Overall, the objectives of ‘In the Mix’ ≈ London’ were to:

  • Amplify Young People’s Voices: to provide a platform for young people to share their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives about life in London, allowing their voices to be heard and valued.
  • Celebrate Diversity: Celebrate the multicultural and multifaceted nature of London by encouraging young people to share their unique cultural backgrounds and experiences through the public platform of Tate Britain using AI and digital media, fostering understanding and unity among young participants.
  • Promote Creativity: Encourage engagement with public art collections at Tate Britain, artistic expression and creativity among young people through various mediums such as art, photography, writing, utilising AI and digital media while learning new creative skills and their application.
  • Build Connections: Foster connections and creative experiences between Tate Britain and its collections and young people from different neighbourhoods and backgrounds, promoting a sense of community and shared identity.
  • Raise Awareness: Create a captivating and authentic creative representation of young people’s lives in London, shedding light on both the joys and challenges they experience through Tate Britain and involvement in a public facing project.

In the Mix was devised by Profs. Ed D’Souza and Sunil Manghani from Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton in collaboration with Julia LePla at Tate Learning Partnerships, and Element. It was delivered in conjunction with Tate Collective Producers and supported by the AI & Arts interest group at The Alan Turing Institute.