This seminar introduces economy not as a distant abstraction but as a set of cultural and everyday practices. Drawing on J.K. Gibson-Graham’s concept of diverse economies, we will acknowledge that art and cultural work are always already economic practices—implicitly or explicitly supporting or subverting mainstream capitalist modes. From here, we will explore more-than-capitalist economies and interdependence across practices, tracing examples from students’ own contexts and paying attention to the local languages used to describe them.
Key theoretical frameworks will include Stephen Wright’s notion of usership, linked to the Arte Útil movement and archive, providing a connection to ZKM and its future programmes. Company Drinks will serve as a case study of art-led, commons-based organising, and as a model for collective making. We will also introduce the idea of “organisational aesthetics” as a framework for structuring and reflecting on our shared processes.
Alongside seminars and readings, the work will remain hands-on and site-specific: experimenting with drink concepts and ideas in close relation to the ZKM fruit orchard and its multiple ecologies and economies. The aim is to contribute to the development of a first Karlsruhe-based drink—working title gemeine Getränke in reference to Ivan Illich’s Recht auf Gemeinheit—as both a material product and a proposition for rethinking interdependent economic and cultural relations.
Key theoretical frameworks will include Stephen Wright’s notion of usership, linked to the Arte Útil movement and archive, providing a connection to ZKM and its future programmes. Company Drinks will serve as a case study of art-led, commons-based organising, and as a model for collective making. We will also introduce the idea of “organisational aesthetics” as a framework for structuring and reflecting on our shared processes.
Alongside seminars and readings, the work will remain hands-on and site-specific: experimenting with drink concepts and ideas in close relation to the ZKM fruit orchard and its multiple ecologies and economies. The aim is to contribute to the development of a first Karlsruhe-based drink—working title gemeine Getränke in reference to Ivan Illich’s Recht auf Gemeinheit—as both a material product and a proposition for rethinking interdependent economic and cultural relations.