The project, entitled The Makers (Mobilizing Arts, Knowledge, and Education to Reclaim Human Agency. Strategies for the Age of Machine Thinking), received funding of €1,643,280 under the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Action programme, part of Horizon Europe. The consortium leader is the University of Silesia, and the project manager is Michał Krzykawski, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., Director of the Centre for Critical Technology Studies and an employee of the Institute of Philosophy.
“As a team, we want to tackle one of the key challenges of our time: preserving human agency in a world saturated with algorithms. By this, I mean algorithms that predict human choices, enabling manipulation on a previously unimaginable scale (as in the case of recommendation algorithms powering digital platforms), algorithms that perform certain cognitive tasks for us and take over certain functions of language (as in the case of algorithms powering language models), as well as a combination of the two,” explains Prof. Michał Krzykawski.
In the theoretical layer of this multidisciplinary project, the key concept is dreamability.
“This is what we call the ability to project ourselves beyond existing structures—both real and imagined. It’s through dreaming that we can imagine the future, feeling that life is worth living and that what we do has meaning,” adds Prof. M. Krzykawski. The project’s assumptions present the ability to dream as a crucial component of human agency. At the same time, it’s about dreaming and agency considered not so much in relation to individuals, but on a collective level, encompassing organisations, from groups to institutions.
The multidisciplinary synthesis the project team intends to develop aims to provide better understanding of the nature of the limitations imposed by digital technologies, from cognitive and psychosocial constraints to environmental ones, as well as to develop recommendations for shaping technological maturity. This is why the practical, experimental layer of the project is equally important.
“Our ambition is to demonstrate that dreaming is a significant cognitive ability, and that the ability to dream can not only be expressed but also measured and implemented. We just need to change the criteria for measuring human interactions and better understand what we are measuring,” says Prof. M. Krzykawski.
The project received a high score of 98.8 out of 100. Research activities will be conducted in three interconnected areas: artistic creation, knowledge production, and thought-provoking education. The project, to be implemented between 2026 and 2030, includes cross-sectoral knowledge exchange between universities, cultural institutions, and non-governmental organisations from eleven countries: Poland, France, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Canada, Ukraine, Germany, Switzerland, Ecuador, Czechia, and Slovakia.
Academic partners:
- University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland),
- Université Paris 8 (France),
- University of Primorska (Slovenia),
- Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (Poland),
- Czech Academy of Sciences (Czechia),
- Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovakia),
- Zeppelin University (Germany),
- Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities Skopje (North Macedonia),
- Universidad de las Artes (Ecuador),
- Simon Fraser University (Canada).
Non-academic partners:
- Arsenał Gallery in Białystok (Poland),
- DISNOVATION.ORG (France),
- ‘Pracownia Współtwórcza’ Foundation (Poland),
- ‘Grupa Robocza’ Foundation (Poland),
- Centro Ecuatoriano de Arte Contemporáneo (Ecuador),
- Biennale Warszawa Foundation (Poland),
- Open Place Platfom for Interdisciplinary Practice (Ukraine),
- Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje (North Macedonia),
- Stowarzyszenie Pacjent Europa (Poland),
- Association La Générale (France),
- Maison du Futur (Switzerland).
