‘Culture is everywhere, constituting itself through the way we do things together’

Kathrin Böhm, 2018

Mansions of the Future Inaugural Artist in Residence Kathrin Böhm produced the concept and design for the ground floor of our building and a structure for the first year of programming. Her commission Culture is a Verb equipped the building for public use and discussion around local culture through action to find out, mix and publish what’s happening culturally in Lincoln and nearby. A civic place that evolves over time and through usage, where everyday culture, local history and contemporary art meet and merge.

Böhm’s architectural interventions and inaugural public programme laid the foundations for our evolving programming approach. Full details of her vision for Lincoln can be found within the PDF version of Böhm’s ‘Culture is a Verb’ publication below.

Mansions of the Future was conceived by creative and cultural agency Thirteen Ways as a 3-year programme (2018 – 2020) exploring power and democracy within Lincoln. 

The programme title  references The Difference, a 2015 project in Lincoln by Artist Ruth Ewan curated by Gymnasium Projects. Taking its cue from Lincoln’s historic connections with the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest and working with  Meadows Primary School young people articulated their own demands of the world. In thinking about an ideal place one young person proposed that “we will share the mansions of the future”.

Kathrin Böhm, 1st Annual, Lincoln Keynote on Culture

In July 2019 Kathrin Böhm delivered a keynote lecture reflecting on the concept of usership in art, as a strategy which rejects mere spectatorship. Using her work for Mansions of the Future as an example, Böhm discussed how art can be applied and used in order to support public spaces which are shaped by their numerous possibilities – welcoming a broadness of practices, a richness of aesthetics and a multitude of identities.