The Art of Cooperativism was devoted to experiments at the intersection of art and economy, collective reflection and playing with social economies in art and outside of it. The programme was the result of the cooperation with the Centre for Plausible Economies and Community Economies Research Network which work in the area of social economies, i.e. economic systems that aim at serving the community and not amassing the capital. CERN and CPE draw inspiration from the feminist critique of capitalism in order to better understand and support its alternatives.
The first day included lectures and presentations of artists, curators and theoreticians affiliated with the CPE and CERN. One of the invited speakers was the initiator of the CPE, Kathrin Böhm, a London-based artist and the founder of Company Drinks, an artistic enterprise specialising in the production of sodas from fruit picked during walks in shared public spaces, or from plants universally but mistakenly rejected as tasteless. Each bottle manufactured by Company Drinks is at the same time a work of art, and CD runs its bars on local markets, in serious institutions and museums, as well as international art fairs. Binna Choi, curator and director of CASCO Art Institute in Utrecht, spoke about the evolution of CASCO from an “ordinary” art institution into an institution of common goods. Katherine Gibson, a world-renowned feminist economist, spoke about social economies and why the economy based on the circulation of money is only the tip of the iceberg.
The event was part of the programme The Art of Cooperativism (curator: Kuba Szreder), which was part of the 1st Biennale Warszawa Let’s Organise Our Future!
