Filter Magazine's Culture Collide 2013 Creative Summit opens with Dhani Harrison, Moby and Shepard Fairey.

Photo by Jasmine Safaeian.

The fourth annual Filter Magazine Culture Collide Festival has kicked off in Silverlake in Los Angeles, serving as a lead in for next week’s CMJ Festival in New York and embracing music from all around the world – including three acts from Australia: Miami Horror, Plastic Plates and The Novocaines.

The festival has launched with a special panel as part of their “Creative Summit” series, which runs from 12noon to 4pm today and tomorrow at the event’s hub and epicentre, Taix. The panel was on creative innovation and featured three high profile names: Electronic artist Moby, street artist Shepard Fairey and musician Dhani Harrison.

The panel, moderated by Filter Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Pat McGuire, spoke at length about the role innovation plays in creativity, as well as what it means to be a creative person. Below are some of the key points from their discussion.

MOBY

“I’m fascinated by innovation. Most innovation is an accidental byproduct of enthusiasm. Punk rock was just guys trying to play fast. Hip hop was guys trying to get people into their shows. When people TRY to innovate it doesn’t work… You set out to do one thing, then you get exposed to other things – and you end up going in an unexpected direction…”

“There are precise variables you need in place to be a creative: you need to have the space to work, the devices and tools to make when you want to make and the audience to see it. That’s why some places become creative meccas.”

“I think it’s sad there aren’t more creepy cults. We’ve lost some innocence by being able to Google whether or not we’re in a cult.”

“If I’m working on something that resonates with me in a similar way that my favourite albums do, I feel I’m onto something. But I’ve had successful songs I haven’t liked as much, that I’ve had to be convinced about. So I’ve probably contradicted myself, but the point is you can’t edit too soon. Only be critical once you share it with other people… Let yourself be intuitive and follow your creative drive. Don’t be too self-analytical.”

“I work by myself so I can be in the studio and not be embarrassed … Sometimes you have to try things that should be terrible because it could end up good.”

“I don’t read anything ever written about me. If it’s bad it makes me want to stab myself in my face. Critics should have more respect for the vulnerability of putting your work out into the world. Meeting people whose my music resonates with – that’s success and what’s most meaningful to me. Meeting heroes can go either way. I’d rather not have the handshake and lose the songs.”

“In LA, everyone has more failure than success. Just keep working, day after day. Like woody Allen. You’re not going to make good music if you’re not creating…”

“We’re in a post craft age. It used to be you’d have to know everything about your camera and the printing process when you took the photo. Not you can fix everything with a filter…”

“…we’re like a panel of mental illness up here… Bring on the mental illness. It seems that is little bit of mental illness is a prerequisite for being creative…”

SHEPARD FAIREY

“…the way I was limited in what I had access to, translated into the way I work with a limited colour palate. It wasn’t about a vision, rather, there is constant revision…”

“What I did as a kid I thought I’d have to give it up, but going to Providence, for College, I learnt about Warhol and people like that and saw there was a precedent for what I did/wanted to do. With a freedom to create you have the ability to innovate, there has to be room for failure without consequences. I was able to rent a big space cheaply and create…”

“Don’t be a coward. Be like Neil Young and just do what you want to do.”

“I did a solo apprenticeship, I looked at artists I liked for inspiration. Working for clients though has been a great learning experience, how to achieve what you want and they want. Can be stressful, but having the ability to evolve even if you’re setting up challenges yourself rather than relying on formulas is important.”

“The more people contributing to culture the better. If you have something you think is worth sharing, chances are it’s better than most of the stuff out there. The worst thing you could do is let the possibility of failure keep you from sharing your work.”

“If someone achieves success there’s this idea that they should be infallible. Of course they’re not, and they shouldn’t be.”

“Difficult sometimes to stick with some projects long enough to see trial and error pay off. I find if I move onto other projects I can think of a solution for the other one… I try to have a lot happening at once.”

“Knowing creative people can be tortured give me empathy, but mental illness or not… you need to be crazy enough to do something people tell you shouldn’t be doing.”

“I may never find a style out of necessity anymore. We have access to everything thanks to technology. I like that people have those tools, but the translation from eye to hand, you are observing with exact specificity – you can be lazier with it, add a filter later…”

“Making pictures for me is therapeutic but it’s not enough, delivering social commentary is important – it can’t be one dimensional. You have to reach hearts and minds.”

DHANI HARRISON

“…if you have a problem, or a need, then you think… Then you try and solve the problem. Accidental problem solving and the result is something you don’t expect.”

“I’m my harshest critic, so I’m the opposite of Moby. I don’t like to work alone. I put me and my bandmates into a box where we can have fun. I’ve done my best work collaborating.”

“It’s better to illicit a response than get nothing at all, positive or negative.”

“Takes a certain amount of suffering to be creative for some people, look at Joni Mitchell. She paints now because she’s happy.”

“Everything I’ve ever done has started With pen and paper.”

“Every great record is made on tape.”

“There’s too much publishing these days… not enough craft.”

(When asked what work he is most proud of) “I don’t think I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve created the work I can be really most proud of.” (Editor’s comment on this one: he alluded to the fact he’ll always be compared to his father in that respect. That’s a fairly high bar to set yourself…)

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Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide officially kicks off with live music from 4pm tonight and then continues through until late Saturday evening with a DJ from members of Primal Scream, performances from The Raveonettes, Liars and more. Visit http://www.culturecollide.com/ for more details and stay tuned to the AU for exclusive Australian coverage of the event!

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.