Art as a Catalyst for Futures Literacy towards Resilient Community: Case Study Kochi, Kerala, India.

This transdisciplinary PWO project aims to embed futures literacy and futures awareness into 
education, civic imagination, and policy discourse. Anchored in the city of Kochi, India, and 
later exploring the potential of diaspora schools in Dubai and Doha, the project empowers 
children as well as artists to explore, narrate, and visualise the(ir) futures through a blend of 
analog drawing, intergenerational memory work, and AI-assisted storytelling. Using 
Participatory Action Research (PAR), the initiative unfolds through six integrated work 
packages: strategic development, classroom implementation, civic engagement via art, policy 
influencing, dissemination, and exploratory geographic expansion. These efforts culminate in 
the co-creation of two educational toolkits (English-Malayalam) and the installation of the AI-enhanced Memory Machine at the first of two editions of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. 
Developed by the Research Centre OPEN Arts & Futures, and Kerala-based partners The Art 
Outreach Society and Rajagiri College, the project directly contributes to the centre’s research 
lines in Open Capacity, Open Imagination, Open Change, and Open Play. It supports at least 
six UN Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender 
Equality), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Through transnational 
collaboration, art-driven foresight, and scalable educational models, this project repositions 
children not just as learners but as authors of the future – charting new territory where policy, 
education, and art converge to shape tomorrow’s world.