About this series – TECH × CREATIVE × MAKER Mental Spaces
Mental Spaces are thoughts taking shape on paper: mental zones to create, to imagine, or simply to be still. They offer space to think — for the maker, the artist, the designer — and for the technology observing alongside.
In this blog series, I reflect on the evolving relationship between humans and machines, on creativity as an interface, and on the act of making in a time when systems often seem smarter than we are.
These texts are not statements, but suggestions. Not answers, but openings.
For those navigating the tension field of TECH × CREATIVE × MAKER.
The maker as interface
Today’s maker is no longer just an executor or implementer. The maker is an interface — between human and machine, between systems and experience, between the present and the possible.
A fundamental shift
We live in a time when technology designs, algorithms steer decisions, and AI generates ideas. The role of the maker is shifting — not toward less, but toward something different. Perhaps even something more. The maker becomes a mediator. Not the endpoint, but a node of meaning. Someone who not only shapes, but also translates. Who reads systemic layers and is attuned to context, relationships and rhythm.
The challenge for education
Still, this role is not a given. In education, we often focus on developing “craftsmanship” or “professional skills.” But who prepares the next generation of makers to become mediators? Who teaches them to intervene at the intersection of technology, culture and humanity? And do we trust creative professionals with that role — or do we still expect it from systems, managers or engineers?
Creativity as mediation
The maker as mediator raises difficult questions. Because mediation is not neutrality. It’s about sensing tension. Taking a stance. Making choices. Filtering, guiding, opening.
Isn’t that exactly what creativity is all about?
From set designer to director
The benefits are profound: makers who embrace this role can generate impact beyond their materials or medium. They can align ethics, systems thinking and imagination. They become directors instead of decorators. They bridge technology with the human scale.
What it asks in return
But it also asks something in return. Mediation is not just about shaping — it’s about navigating. Across interests, across disciplines, across speeds. It calls for the development of moral awareness, empathy, and critical perception — in short, the training of an inner compass. Educational institutions and creative practices already contribute to this — through dialogue, reflection and making ethical tension points discussable. At the same time, we might ask ourselves how to embed these elements more consciously, consistently and future-oriented in the way we educate makers as mediators.
The maker as choreographer of context
The maker is no longer merely a shaper of things — but of relationships: between ideas, data, people, emotions and technology. A translator of the unspeakable. A choreographer of context.
Maarten Meijer — an Imaginologist. A conceptual thinker who moves between creativity, systems and strategy. I design visions, frameworks and futures that challenge the expected and open new possibilities.
My mission is simple: To initiate creation.
By disrupting fixed patterns, I help people think differently — to imagine what could be, and make it real.