Episode 13: Kathrin Böhm
Kathrin Böhm is an artist whose practice focuses on the collective re-production of public space; on economy as a public realm; and the everyday as a starting point for culture. Since the mid-nineties, Kathrin has expanded the terms of socially engaged practice by co-producing complex organisational, spatial, visual, and economic forms.
"I see economy as a public realm where values are being negotiated. My position is not just to comment or reflect on the economy but to take it back, through practicing it differently.”
Many of Kathrin’s works stem from long-lasting collaborations. She is a founding member of the international artist group Myvillages, since 2003; the art and architecture collective Public Works, 1999 – 2012; the Centre for Plausible Economies, since 2018. In 2014 Kathrin founded the arts enterprise called Company Drinks. And today we’ll hear from her how working on a 1 to 1 scale matters, for engaging within the public realm. She also walks us through the dimensions of use, how different people and entities “use” such projects in myriad ways.
Episode Notes & Links
Kathrin’s recent exhibition is titled “Compost” to refer to the way in which she composts existing works. The exhibition features architectural structures, tape towers, haystacks, a drinks company, posters, books, a pantry, trade shows, pots with noses alongside a live program of talks, workshops, and 1:1 drop-ins will be held at The Showroom and online. https://www.theshowroom.org/exhibitions/kathrin-bohm-compost
Company Drinks is a community space and social enterprise based in Barking and Dagenham. Their high-quality, artisanal juices and beverages are produced from the crops they collect, glean, forage, or simply go picking in surrounding parks, fields, and farms. https://companydrinks.info/drink/
The Center for Plausible Economies was initiated by Kathrin Böhm and Kuba Szreder to bring together artistic action and critical thinking to reclaim the economy.
J.K Gibson-Graham is the pen-name of Katherine Gibson and the late Julie Graham. As feminist political economists and economic geographers, they have extensively written about diverse economies, urbanism, alternative communities and regional economic development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Gibson-Graham
Founded on the groundbreaking work of J.K. Gibson-Graham in publications such as The End of Capitalism (as we knew it): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy, A Postcapitalist Politics, and Take Back the Economy: An Ethical Guide for Transforming our Communities, the Community Economies Institute (CEI) fosters thought and practice to help communities survive well together. http://www.communityeconomies.org/about/community-economies-institute
Learn to Act is a user-friendly manual explaining and demonstrating international communal and intergenerational learning and socio-economic capacity-building programs with the aim to stimulate and facilitate their replication by others.
https://halfletterpress.com/learn-to-act-introducing-the-eco-nomadic-school/
Stephen Wright is a writer and gardener based in France. He was the first guest of the previous season of Ahali. Listen at https://www.ahali.space/episodes/episode-1-stephen-wright
“Towards a lexicon of usership" focuses on the politics of usership, as well as other modes of cultural production that do not necessitate artworks, authorship, or spectatorship. You can download a free copy of the lexicon from Arte Utils’ website.
An alternative to more familiar identifiers (such as .ltd or Inc.), the Interdependence (idt.) stands for a multi-local alliance between community economies initiatives. https://www.communityeconomies.org/news/launch-interdependence-and-idt
Founded by Doina Petrescu and Constantin Petcou, atelier d’architecture autogérée / studio for self-managed architecture (aaa) is a collective platform that conducts explorations, actions, and research concerning urban mutations and cultural, social, and political emerging practices in the contemporary city.
Myvillages was founded by artists Kathrin Böhm, Wapke Feenstra and Antje Schiffers to advocate for a new understanding of the rural as a place of and for cultural production. They initiate and organise projects which range from work in private spaces to museum exhibitions, from personal questions to multidisciplinary research and publications, from foraging to building permanent infrastructures.
The Rural is part of the Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art series, It was edited by Myvillages in 2019. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/rural
Bringing issues about agricultural land use, local traditions, and collective efforts into discussion, Haystacks is a series of talks and meetings about rural links, places, and practices initiated by Katrin Höhm/Myvillages. https://www.andmillionsandmillions.net/haystacks/
Episode recorded on Zoom on February 16th 2021.
Interview by Can Altay. Produced by Aslı Altay & Sarp Renk Özer. Music by Grup Ses.