THE MAKERS · Mobilizing Arts, Knowledge and Education to Reclaim Human Agency. Strategies for the Age of Machine Thinking

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Project objective

The MAKERS project addresses the critical challenge of preserving human agency as artificial intelligence systems increasingly predict, influence, and constrain human choices. Building on the theoretical foundation of ""dreamability"", here understand as the capacity to mentally project ourselves beyond existing structural conditions, MAKERS reframes this concept as a concrete, cultivatable component of human agency that can be implemented through specific interventions in arts, knowledge production, and education.The project develops a comprehensive technosocial framework that bridges individual agency findings from social neuroscience with humanities and arts approaches to collective phenomena. This interdisciplinary synthesis addresses how digital technologies, through both environmental costs and cognitive constraints, limit human capacity to envision and implement sustainable futures.MAKERS challenges the prevailing employability framework by positioning human agency and dignity, rather than market fitness, as the foundation for meaningful participation in society and work. While acknowledging the importance of knowledge, skills, and qualifications, the project fundamentally reorients their purpose: from adapting humans to serve economic imperatives to enhancing human capacity for dignified existence in an era of accelerating systemic, organizational and ecological transitions caused by digitalization. Central to this reorientation is “dreamability” as a core competency for future careers while developing transferable skills that preserve human decision-making capabilities in algorithmic environments.Through intersectoral knowledge exchange between academic researchers, cultural practitioners, and policy organizations across 11 countries, MAKERS creates practical tools and interventions that foster more adaptive human-technology-environment relationships. The project's outcomes include measurement frameworks for human agency, educational protocols, artistic interventions, and policy recommendations that collectively advance our understanding of how to maintain human autonomy in an increasingly algorithmic world.""

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIWERSYTET SLASKI W KATOWICACH · KATOWICECoordinatorPoland
• AKADEMIE VYTVARNYCH UMENI V PRAZE · PrahaCzechia
• FILOSOFICKY USTAV AV CR V V I · PRAHACzechia
• FUNDACION CENTRO ECUATORIANO DE ARTE CONTEMPORANEO · QUITOEcuador
• FUNDACJA BIENNALE WARSZAWA · WARSAWPoland
• FUNDACJA GRUPA ROBOCZA · KrakówPoland
• FUNDACJA PRACOWNIA WSPOLTWORCZA · DABROWA GORNICZAPoland
• Filozofický ústav Slovenskej akademie vied, verejna vyskumna institucia · BratislavaSlovakia
• GALERIA ARSENAL W BIALYMSTOKU · BIALYSTOKPoland
• INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, SKOPJE · SkopjeNorth Macedonia
• LA GENERALE NORD EST · PARISFrance
• MAISON DU FUTUR GEMEINNUTZIGE GMBH · ZURICHSwitzerland
• PHOSPHENE · PARISFrance
• PLATFORM FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE OPEN PLACE PUBLIC ORGANISATION · KYIVUkraine
• STOWARZYSZENIE PACJENT EUROPA · WARSZAWAPoland
• Simon Fraser University · BurnabyCanada
• UNIVERSIDAD DE LAS ARTES · GuayaquilEcuador
• UNIVERSITE PARIS 8 VINCENNES SAINT-DENIS · Saint-DenisFrance
• UNIVERZA NA PRIMORSKEM UNIVERSITA DEL LITORALE · KoperSlovenia
• UNIVERZA V NOVI GORICI · Nova GoricaSlovenia

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101299616