Artists in the Age of Automation: Moulsari Jain

Upon completing THNK’s 6-month part-time Executive Program, Moulsari came to the conclusion that she wanted to do much more than build brands. She wanted to go further, to create a whole new culture of thinking and living: one that was more sustainable, conscious and human. This meant infusing more passion, purpose, and creativity into the world, one group of humans at a time.

Moulsari met her Artists Are Among Us Co-Founder Gunter Wehmeyer when she hosted her first personal branding workshop at FSTVL, THNK’s annual gathering of change-makers. She met their other Co-Founder, Romas Stukenberg, two years later, when he participated in the Executive Program and pitched his creative endeavor idea.

Romas, Gunter, and Moulsari formed Artists Are Among Us with an ambitious first goal: to challenge businesses to rethink their approach to work by adopting an artistic mindset. Through workshops, talks, collaborations, and consulting artist residencies, their aim is to slowly transform the culture of business to one that is more creative, conscious, and human. By shifting the focus from products to processes, they aspire to contribute to the end of capitalism itself, allowing people to find intrinsic fulfilment and purpose in their work.

“Ultimately, we really want to change the way the world works and lives by giving people more self-awareness of their own abilities and showing them how to find fulfilment by developing these abilities, while creating a more innovative and sustainable world for us all. Artists have been reimagining the world for us since the dawn of time. It only makes sense for us to bring their perspective to the forefront in today’s age.”

Apart from working directly with organizations and individuals, Artists Are Among Us also serves as a network to connect those who share the mindset that creativity should become the primary pursuit of our species, while machines take over unskilled and redundant tasks.

“After all, all business is by and for humans, it’s entirely about creating a better experience for humanity. So we need to allow for more humanity in the way we do everything. And there are plenty of tools available within the artistic practice to allow us to tap into our full human potential.”

Moulsari says she never really expected to go through the program at THNK and emerge as an artist with a social conscience. “Sure, I wanted to learn how to make more impact with my work, but when I learned the value of design thinking tools for businesses and social enterprises alike, I realized that I could make a much bigger difference by sharing my own creative tools and techniques. I understood how much more there was to gain, for all, if businesses and social enterprises had the opportunity to actually apply a creative mindset. For us to live more sustainably and successfully, we need a new measure of our success instead of constant growth, fame, and fortune.”

Currently, Moulsari and Artists Are Among Us are looking for clients, partners and collaborators who are ready to create truly diverse, innovative and artistic ways of working and living. They aren’t just creating a new paradigm for work and lifestyle, they are creating a movement to learn how to adopt an artistic mindset in work and life. “After all,” says Moulsari, “Our humanity is our greatest asset in a future that is dominated by machines.”