Vera Hofmann· Johannes Euler· Linus Zurmühlen· Silke Helfrich

Commoning Art

Activating the transformative potential of commons in the arts.

Commoning Art brings contemporary commons and art discourses into dialogue through feminist, queer, ecosocial, and critical studies perspectives. It outlines three positions in current practice: Art for Commons, centering the commons as a political and aesthetic concern; Art as Commons, challenging ownership and copyright; and Commoning Art, approaching art as an ongoing process of collective self-organization.

Drawing on a variety of situated examples from artistic and curatorial practice, the transdisciplinary team of authors develops a methodology that advances an ontological reorientation of art, shifting away from the myth of individual autonomy towards forms of practice grounded in relationality and interdependence. From this perspective, art is understood as infrastructure that is collectively sustained through commoning processes of care, shared responsibility, and collective decision-making.

Commoning Art opens pathways towards legal, organizational, and material conditions that allow cultural work to be sustained with greater stability and reduced dependence on market- and state-based arrangements. The book builds on the intellectual legacy of Silke Helfrich (1967—2021), one of the most influential figures in contemporary commons theory, and constitutes her final contribution to the field. The patterns of commoning, developed through long-standing collaborative commons research, form a central conceptual reference throughout the book.

First published in German in 2022, Commoning Art quickly became a key reference in debates on art, commons, and cultural self-organization. Discussed in academic contexts, artist-run spaces, and cultural institutions, the book has contributed to shaping how commons and commoning in the arts are theorized and practiced. This English edition makes the work newly accessible to a broader international readership.

2026  ·  Set Margins'  ·  ISBN 978-90-836575-1-6
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Commoning Art – English cover

Chapters

Preface
01 Commoning in the Arts — from Radical Resistance to Buzzword?
02 Art and Commoning Discourse — from Object to Social Process
2.1Developments in Art
2.2Current Trends in Commons Theory
2.3Art and Commoning as Resonant Spaces for Aesthetics of the Common
03 The Relationships Between Art, Commons, and Commoning — Support, De-Privatize, and Co-Create
3.1Art for Commons
3.2Art as Commons
3.3Commoning Art
04 Commonifying Artistic-Curatorial Practices as an Element of Transformation
4.1Acknowledging the Equal Dignity of All Participants
4.2Practicing Intersectionality and Building Coalitions
4.3Reducing Dependencies on Market and State
4.4Developing a Supportive Legal Basis for Co-Creation
4.5Creating Basic Material Security
05 Commonification — Staying Attentive, Creative, and with the Trouble
Acknowledgments
List of Patterns of Commoning Used Throughout the Book
Reference List

Inside the book

Spread 1
Spread 2
Spread 3
Spread 4
Spread 5
Spread 6

Authors

Vera
Hofmann

Artist · Curator

Vera Hofmann is an artist and curator who develops strategies of collective and institutional transformation through commoning and queer-feminist practice. Trained in business administration, photo design, and fine arts, their practice is rooted in activist and self-organized contexts. They served on the executive board and curatorial team of Schwules Museum Berlin, where they co-conceptualized and led Year of the Women*, an intervention that brought lasting structural change to the institution. They are co-editor of Radicalizing Care: Feminist and Queer Activism in Curating, teach Commoning Art at cultural institutions, and advise independent initiatives.

verahofmann.de →

Johannes
Euler

Economist · Commons activist

Johannes Euler is an independent economist, commons activist, and advisor for socioecological change. He has researched and taught on topics such as post-growth, plural economics, and commons-based economies, and earned his doctorate with a thesis on commoning and water conflicts. He is active in community-based and self-organized contexts and is particularly interested in how the many solutions that have developed in such contexts can be brought together and used for a future-fit society. He co-founded both the Commons-Institut and the education center Wegwarte, a learning and research space for the sensing configuration of society and caring economies.

Linus
Zurmühlen

Musician · Researcher

Linus Zurmühlen experiments as a musician, activist, and learner with artistic research approaches to socioecological transformation, naturecultures, and commoning. With the Gigi Saggi Dance Band, he has brought a mix of art, science, and activism to (un)usual dance floors since 2019. His search for collective forms of art-making led him to an exhibition at documenta 15 with //KOMPOST Ensemble. He is trained in geography and has worked in academic research contexts on more-than-human commoning.

Silke
Helfrich1967 — 2021

Commons theorist

Silke Helfrich was a freelance author, activist, researcher, and blogger and one of the most influential thinkers in contemporary commons studies. Trained in Romance languages and social sciences with a focus on economics, she developed conceptual frameworks that critically rethought property, value, and economic organization beyond market and state logics, always in close dialogue with commons-based practice. She co-founded the Commons Strategies Group and the Commons-Institut. Together with David Bollier, she co-authored several key publications on the commons, including Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons and Patterns of Commoning.

Wikipedia →

About the edition

Release date
July 2026
Publisher
Set Margins' #72, Eindhoven
setmargins.press/books/commoning-art
Distributor
D.A.P. (Distributed Art Publishers), New York
ISBN
978-90-836575-1-6
License
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. A free PDF is available.
Format
Softcover, sewn and glued
160 × 230 mm · 136 pages
5 PMS colors · Edition of 3,000
Paper
Recycled Circle Offset White
90 gsm inside · 250 gsm cover
Printer
PB Tisk, Příbram, Czech Republic
Translation
Eva Luxem
Copy editing
David Bollier
Graphic design
NM (Nicole Martens)
Original edition
Originally published as Commoning Art – Die transformativen Potenziale von Commons in der Kunst, transcript Verlag, Bielefeld, June 2022.

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