Prof. Kathrin Böhm
Professor of Art in the Business Context
Chair of Art in the Business Context // Chair for Art and Business
Phone: 02222-9321-1601
Professional Career / Short Bio
My profession is that of an artist, and I see my workspace as society. My interdisciplinary and collaborative way of working mostly takes place in non-art contexts – whether in a company, an urban neighbourhood, a village community or a business department.
I originally studied Abstract Painting and Art Education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg, and later received my Master of Arts from Goldsmiths College London.
//
I keep calling myself an artist and I prefer to work within everyday situations. My practice is trans-disciplinary and collaborative, and mainly takes place in non-art situations – be it an enterprise, a suburban neighbourhood, a rural community or a department for business management.
I initially studied Abstract Painting and Art Pedagogy at the Academy of Fine Art Nuremberg, and later received an MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College London.
Initiatives / Initiatives
2021
COMPOST, The Showroom London
Link: https://www.theshowroom.org/exhibitions/kathrin-bohm-compost-for-future-use
Project website: www.compost.kathrinbohm.info
2020
Rural School of Econonomics, gemeinsam mit // together with Wapke Feenstra at Myvillages
Project website www.ruralschoolofeconomics.info
2020 UNO INO Berater*innen Genossenschaft mit Schwerpunkt Nachhaltige Unternehmenstransformation
// Cooperative Business Consultation UNO INO focusing on Sustainable Business Transformation
Link: https://unoino.de
2018 Centre for Plausible Economies c/o Company Drinks, zusammen mit
// together with Kuba Szreder
Link: companydrinks.info/whats-on/economy/
2016 Keep it Complex – Make it Clear (until 2021)
Link: makeitclear.eu
2014 Company Drinks, art in the form of a drinks company
// Art in the shape of a drinks enterprise
Link: companydrinks.info
2004 Art and Architecture Collective Public Works
// Art and Architecture Collective Public Works
Link: publicworksgroup.net/about/
2003 Women’s Artist Initiative Myvillages
// Artist Collective Myvillages
Link: myvillages.org
Teaching and Learning / Teaching and Learning
My teaching work in employed positions includes several years of teaching at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Wolverhampton, and regular teaching assignments at universities across Europe, including the Royal College London, the University of Gothenburg and the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart.
The Rural School of Economics by Myvillages, a Europe-wide learning network between rural interest groups and cultural partners, has been in development since 2020 and follows directly on from the Eco Nomadic School, which I co-organised.
As a co-founder of the Centre for Plausible Economies, I regularly organise interdisciplinary knowledge exchange at the interface between research and activism.
I originally studied Abstract Painting and Art Education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg, and later received my Master of Arts from Goldsmiths College London.
//
My teaching experience within institutional settings includes teaching at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Wolverhampton, and regular teaching assignments at universities in Europe, including the Royal College London, University of Gothenburg and Academy of Fine Art Stuttgart.
The Rural School of Economics is an ongoing inter-generational and trans-local network for mutual knowledge exchange which I have set up together with Myvillages, and which developed out of the Eco Nomadic School.
As a co-founder of the Centre for Plausible Economies I regularly organise inter-disciplinary knowledge exchange at the intersection between research and activism.
I initially studied Abstract Painting and Art Pedagogy at the Academy of Fine Art Nuremberg, and later received an MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College London.
Publications / Publications
Editor and author (selection) //
Edited and co-edited Publications (selection)
Böhm, K. (2024) Art in Business Can. Publication of the Department of Business, Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences
Wilson, M., ONeill, P. (2022) Art on the Scale of Life. Co-produced with The Showroom London. Sternberg Press: Berlin/London
Böhm, K., Szreder, K. (2020) Icebergian Economies of Contemporray Art. Pyrammmida: London
Böhm, K., Feenstra, W. (editors) (2019) The Rural. Documents of Contemporary Art. Whitechapel Gallery and MIT Press: London and Cambridge (US)
Böhm, K., James, T., Petresu, D. (2017). Learn To Act. Introducing the Eco Nomadic School. Peprav: Paris.
Böhm, K., Feenstra, W., Schiffers, A. (2016). International Village Show. All Villages in One Place. Together with the Gallery of Contemporary Art Leipzig. Jovis Verlag: Berlin
Böhm, K. (2016) Trade as Public Real, Economy as Public Space. Trade Test Site: Copenhagen
Böhm, K., Pope, M. (2015). Company: Movements, Deals and Drinks. Jap Sam Books: Prinsenbeek
Böhm, K. (2009) Who is Building What? CADRE Research Centre, University of Wolverhampton: Wolverhampton
Interviews/Podcasts (selection)
Lagemann, A. (2022) The Power of Many. Interview for The New Institute, Hamburg
https://thenew.institute/en/media/the-power-of-many
Biermann, U. (2022) Kathrin Böhm – 1st artistic professor in the Department of Business, Deutschlandfunk
Schlieder, F. (2022) Art and Business, podcast with Kathrin Böhm and Susanne Blazejewski, Fabrik Für Immer (Episode 138)
Wilson, M. (editor) (2021) On the question of Exhibition. Exhibition as Pile. PARSE Journal: Gothenburg
https://parsejournal.com/journal/#on-the-question-of-exhibition-part-1
Altay, C. (2021) Arteconomies. Ahali Podcast Series 13: Istanbul
Beale,R., Fenneck, A. (editors) (2019) True Currency. About Feminist Economics. Podcast Series by The Alternative School of Economics: London
https://gasworks.org.uk/events/episode-5-we-are-the-true-currency/
deWachter, E.M. (2018). Culture is a Verb. Mansions of the Future: Lincoln
For further publications and contributions, see also // To find more publications visit
Projects & Exhibitions / Projects & Exhibitions
2024
60th October Salon, Belgrade, together with Jelena Micić
Municipal Kitchens at nGbK, with Myvillages, Berlin (group exhibition)
Artists and Farmers, with Myvillages (group exhibition), Les Abattoirs, Toulouse
2023
Looking back to the future we want, Myvillages, TENT, Rotterdam
Re-drawing Room, together with Kuba Szreder, Economics the Blockbuster, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Who has the Energy, Summer Camp, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Aberdeenshire
2022
Kassel’s Rural Undercurrents, Composting Knowledge, Lumbung documenta fifteen, Kassel
Coalesce, curated by Paul O’Neill, ADN Gallery, Barcelona
The Rural School of Economics, exhibition, with Myvillages, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
2021
COMPOST, The Showroom, London
Tip of the Iceberg, Focal Point Gallery, Southend
Potential Agrarianisms, Kunsthalle Bratislava (Myvillages)
2019
Setting the Table: Village Politics, zusammen mit//together with Myvillages, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Poster Take Over, PUBLICS, Helsinki
When Decisions become Art, kunstbunker – Forum for Contemporary Art Nuremberg
2018
Culture is a Verb, Mansions of the Future, Lincoln
Redrawing the Economy, together with the Community Economy Research Network
2017
From Here Since, CCA, Glasgow
Company: Movements, Deals and Drinks, Museum of London
2016
International Village Show, gemeinsam mit//together with Myvillages, Museum of Contemporary Art (GfZK), Leipzig
Brand News, Market Town, Radar Art Programme, Loughborough University
2015
Forms of Finding, gemeinsam mit//together with Myvillages, A-Z Collection Marzona, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Lammas Land Community Haystacks, Lee Valley Park, East London
2014
Money Distribution Machine and other Useful Contraptions, Peckham Platform, London
2013
Trade Show, co-curated with Gavin Wade, Eastside Projects, Birmingham
Good News From Nowhere, together with Myvillages, The Architecture Foundation, London
I am a Shop, Communal Knowledge Programme, The Showroom, London
For further projects and a more complete list, please click here // To find a more comprehensive project list please click here
Keynotes / Workshops / Conferences
2024
Keynote, Social Making Conference, Bristol
Keynote together with Kuba Szreder, LIVIANA Online Conference organised by Community Economies Institute
Swylje/Haystack/Heuhaufen talk at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart
2023
Redrawing the Economy workshop with Kuba Szreder, as part of Economics the Blockbuster, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Unfreeze Your Brain, Alanus at IMPACT Festival, Frankfurt
2022
Mini Majelis, Rural School of Economics, Lumbung documenta fifteen, Kassel
By Design or by Disaster Conference, Free University Bolzano
2022
After Growth: A Symposium on Post-Capitalist Imaginaries, Nottingham Contemporary
Inaugural lecture Alanus University
2021
Art as Artistic Enterprise, MA in Social Entrepreneurship, Goldsmiths College London
Heimat, Talk Series, University Kassel
Redrawing the Economy, as part of Reframing Community-based Economies’, SIRIUS, Ireland
Krater Summer School, Center of Creativity / Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana
2020
Liviana, International Community Economies Conference, Community Economies Institute
C4R, Keynote on Artist Residencies, organised by aaa, online
Politics of Food, Book launch and Talk, Delfina Foundation, London
2019
Culture is a Verb, Lincoln Annual Keynotes on Culture, Mansions of the Future, Lincoln
Community Production and Collective Products, talk at Steamhouse, Birmingham
Re-drawing Art World Economies, with Kuba Szreder, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
The Rural, conference, Whitechapel Gallery, London (co-organiser)
2018
Unlearning Economy, Elephants in the Room, Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons, Utrecht
Economies as a Means, Valand Academy, Gothenburgh
Trade as Public Realm, Camberwell College, UCL, London
2017
Working Across Divides, Frieze Projects Symposium, Goethe Institut London
London Salon on Edgelands, City Now City Future Programme, Museum of London
Learn To Act International Workshop, Sheffield University (co-organiser)
Civic University, organised by public works, Tate Exchange, Tate Modern
2016
Company Drinks, talk and workshop, Trade Test Site, Arhus
Trade as Public Space, talk and workshop, mima, Middlesbrough
Myvillages and Company Drinks, Culture Now Series, ICA, London
2015
Serpentine Transformation Marathon, Serpentine Galleries, London
Art and Economy Seminar, Radar, Loughborough University
Re-imagining Rurality Conference (keynote), University of Westminster, London
Glocal Design, conference, University of Bolzano (It)
2014
Art and Mental Health, House of Lords, London
Rural Luxury and Natural Fermentation, CLIC workshop, Höfen and Frensdorf, Southern Germany
Collective Product Development, workshop, Trade Show, Eastside Projects, Birmingham
2013
Talking Shop, presentation and discussion, The Showroom, London
Cut and Paste, Read+Talk+Make Workshops organised Andrea Francke, Lambeth, London
Kathrin Böhm reads Colin Ward, Reading Anarchism Programme, New Art Space Amsterdam, Amsterdam
2012
The Art of Making Things Public and Getting Things Done, talk, Glyndŵr University, Wrexham
Miljonprogrammet – the city of the future, talk, School of Architecture & the Built Environment, Stockholm
Memberships / Memberships
Community Economies Institute, worldwide
Link: www.communityeconomies.org/about/community-economies-institute
Asociacion de Arte Util
Link: https://www.arte-util.org
Advisory Panel, Economy the Blockbuster, Manchester Museum
East London Traders Guild, UK
Landworkers Alliance, UK
Focus Art and Economy / Focus Art and Economy
I understand economic activity as a shared cultural space in which we are all active contributors, negotiating and defining values and relationships.
My artistic work in and with companies has had a formative influence on my career since 1999. It ranges from wall designs to strategy papers, from founding a drinks company to participating in international research projects, from curating subject-specific exhibitions to specialist publications.
//
I understand and define economy as a shared public and cultural realm, which is actively shaped by all of us by negotiating and organising values and relationships.
My work at the intersection to enterprise, political economy and everyday economies has been constant and evolving throughout my practice. Examples range from office decoration to strategy development, from setting up enterprises to teaching diverse economies, from curating economy focused exhibitions to publications of the subject.
