Vera Hofmann is based in Berlin and works at the intersections of contemporary art practises and design, self-organisation and organisational restructuring, healing and activism. Vera has been developing long-term research and artistic practice on ecological, economic and social crises. They are now investigating how practises and sensuous knowledges around intersectional feminisms, non-duality, embodied social justice, queering and commoning can be brought together for sustainable change and shifting paradigms. With a BA in business administration (DHBW Mannheim), a BA in photo design (Lette Verein, Berlin) and an MA in fine arts (Sandberg Institute / Gerrit Rietveld Akademie, Amsterdam), and positions in various sectors of the economy, Vera‘s artistic work has been exhibited internationally at cultural institutions including De Appel Arts Centre (Amsterdam), Benaki Museum (Athens), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), and Pori Art Museum (Finland). From 2016 to 2020 they were on the Schwules Museum Berlin executive board of directors and a member of the curatorial team. In 2018, they co-curated and led the Year of the Women* project: a year-long queer-feminist intervention to address the structural, economic and representational imbalances within the world’s largest museum for LGBTIQA+ history, art and culture. In 2021 they have co-published the book „Radicalizing Care – Feminist and Queer Activism in Curating“ (Sternberg Press), co-authored „kuratieren #7“ (Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung) and in 2022 "Commoning Art – Die transformativen Potenziale von Commons in der Kunst" (Transcript Verlag) as well as edited and co-published the "archive and magazine yearofthewomen.net". Larger bodies of work include founding the artist duo BENTEN CLAY: “a global corporation”, and making work on nuclear waste disposal, global power dynamics and resource distribution (2011–2016), as well the Contemporary Cure Compendium on queering health practises, healing and care (2014–2016).
DE: Kunst und Commonisierung: Für einen Kulturbetrieb von allen für alle, Dissens Podcast Folge 296, 2025
DE: „Fürsorgende Selbstorganisation in Kunst und Kultur durch Commoning“, Kultur Management Network Magazin, Ausgabe 170, 2023
EN + PT: "Burning Down the House; Queer Art and Capitalism", Umbigo #81, 2022
EN + RO: "How can we talk about queer culture?", in conversation with Dragoș Olea, Triumf Amiria, 11.2.2022EN: Year of the Women*, kuratieren #7,in conversation with Helena Reckitt, Goldsmiths and Ulrike Boskamp, Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung, 23.06.2021EN + TR: "Everything is frequency and rhythm, making and perceiving art a bodily experience", with Can Akgümüş, Ankara Queer Art Program, 7.5.2021
DE: „Das Schwule Museum in Bewegung", kultur mitte, 7.1.2019
DE: Zeitpunkte, Kulturradio vom rbb, 14.01.2018, ab Minute 33EN: Radio Sandberg, in conversation with Femke Dekker and Arif Kornweitz from jajajaneeneenee, 17.06.2016, from 02:29:00 onwards
EN: "Proportional Exchanges", in conversation with Sabin Bors from Anti Utopias, 20.12.2012
DE: „Es geht ganz klar ums Jetzt", BENTEN CLAY im Interview mit Faktor N, 1.11.2012
constant un-/learning
2022-2025 translating Commoning Art–The transformative Potentials in the Arts
2021 Residency Ankara Queer Art Residency Program2020-2022 co-writing Commoning Art – Die transformativen Potentiale in der Kunstsince 2019 initiator and/or member of peer led groups on queering + commoning, resource distribution, social justice, health2019-2022 archiving, lecturing, writing and publishing on the "Year of the Women*"
2018 Co-Curator and project manager of theme year "Year of the Women*", curator of "12 Moons Film Lounge", "Dyke Bar: SPIRITS" and co-curator of lecture series "our own feminismS", Schwules Museum, Berlin, DE2013 Artist-in-Residence, OBRAS - International Centre for Art and Science, Evoramonte, PT2013 Artist-in-Residence, Arteles-Creative Center, Haukijärvi, FI2012 Artist-in-Residence, OBRAS - International Centre for Art and Science, Evoramonte, PT2012 Artist-in-Residence, SÍM - Association of Icelandic Visual Artists, Reykjavík, IS2011 Artist-in-Residence, Arteles-Creative Center, Haukijärvi, FI2011 Foundation of artist collective BENTEN CLAY2010/2011 Member of interdisciplinary artist group Solaris
2000-2009 DJing in Berlin, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Giessen
Formal Education: BA Business Administration (DHBW Mannheim), BA Photo Design (Lette Verein Berlin), MA Fine Arts (Sandberg Institute (Gerrit Rietveld), Amsterdam)
2025 Lecture “Frieden als Commons – Commoning als radikale Friedenspraxis, Interferenz – Zwischen Beton und Bewegung, Kultur als Widerstand, Initiative Hüttenstadt, Hannover, DE.
2025 Lecture Grundlagen von Commons und Commoning in der Kunst, performing community, Universität der Künste, Berlin, DE.
2024 Lecture Is Queering the Museum Enough?, Wissenschaft und Kunst, Programmbereich Gesellschaft & Nachhaltigkeit | Zeitgenössische Kunst und Kulturproduktion, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg, AT.
2024 Lecture Commoning Processes in Eco Communities, Wir bauen Zukunft, Nieklitz, DE.
2024 Co-Lecture Queer/ing Commoning, Queer Commons Werkstatt, Köthen, DE.
2024 Critical friend, A Living Artwork, Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum, Berlin, DE.
2023 Lecture, Commons und urbane Machtdynamiken, Collective Frictions & Fictions, Netzwerk Urbane Praxis, Berlin, DE.
2023 Lecture Commoning Art, Reclaiming the Commons, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment & Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences, Portland, OR, USA.
2023 Keynote Lecture Commoning Publishing, Performative Buchmesse, Kampnagel, Hamburg, DE.
2022 Keynote Lecture Year of the Women*, book launch Radicalizing Care, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AT.
2022 Artist Talk, How Can We Talk About Queer Culture?, Triumf Amiria, RO.
2021 Curator’s Talk, kuratieren #7, Arthur Boskamp Foundation, DE.
2019 Lecture, Queering Memory, ALMS Conference, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, DE.
2018 Lecture, Joint Ventures: Movements in Feminism / Feminisms in Movement, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT.
2018 Co-curation and lecture, Who(se) Care(s). Kuratieren: Re-produktives Kümmern. Kritisch, feministisch, queer., Symposium, Schwules Museum, Berlin, DE.
2018 Film curation and panel participation, Archival Practices Between Self-Organization and Institutional Frameworks, Afrodite*, Athens Festival, Athens, GR.
2018 Co-Curator of Year of the Women*, year-long queer-feminist intervention, Schwules Museum, Berlin, DE.Curator of 12 Moons Film Lounge (12 film programs, 1 exhibition).Curator of Dyke Bar Spirits (year-long bar project and events).Curator of our own feminismS (year-long queer-feminist future lab, lectures, and events).Project management, programming, curation, and documentation of various formats, exhibitions, and events.
2017 Artist Talk Continuity & Glitch, Art Center College of Design, CA, USA; TestLAB, Berlin, DE.
2017 Curation Queer Healing Day, Buddhistisches Tor, Berlin, DE.
2017 Organization of film screenings by women and queer filmmakers, Schwules Museum, Berlin, DE.
2015 Lecture, Cure Café, De Punt, Amsterdam, NL.
2015 Lecture and panel participation, Design for Babylon, Side Room, Amsterdam, NL.
2014 Artist Talk and discussion, The Art of Political Intervention with Art, BENTEN CLAY, Schwules Museum, Berlin, DE.
2013 Artist Talk, discussion, and screening, The Promise and Other Promising Projects Projected, DOK.fest – 28th International Documentary Film Festival, Munich, DE.
2013 Artist Talk, Art and Commerce, BENTEN CLAY, ARTistTALK, Pilotenküche, Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, DE.
2012 Artist Talk, I Have Nothing to Say, BENTEN CLAY, EIN Magazine, Berlin, DE.
2011 Artist Talk, Satellite Platform, Pori Art Museum, Pori, FI.
2011 Panelist, Artist Between Art and the Market, Tampere Art Fair, Tampere, FI.
2009 Curation of panel discussions, including About One’s Own Drive, Talent Boosting, and Marketing Strategies Within the Field of Art Photography, with Felix Hoffmann, Joerg Koopmann, Katja Stuke & Oliver Sieber, Ingo Taubhorn; presented by Thomas Eller, Lette-Verein Graduation Show, Umspannwerk, Berlin, DE.
2021 Stiftung Kunstfonds Publikation
2020 Ankara Queer Art Residency Program
2018 Goethe Institut Pakistan
2017 Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe
2010 Nomination for Westminster Photography Prize
2009 Nomination for gute aussichten, new german photography2008 profifoto + Cewe Fotobuch Pro Award2008 Nomination for Gruner+Jahr photo award
2021 Contribution to Philipp Gufler’s I Wanna Give You Devotion, Sweat, Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE.
2019 Little Boy’s Luminous Legacies (new, clear, atomic narratives), BENTEN CLAY, Lothringer 13, Munich, DE.
2018 Afrodite, Athens Festival, Athens, GR.
2017 I Wanna Give You Devotion, Platform, Munich, DE.
2017 One Minute: Enjoy Your File, Download Your Life, curated by Studio David Claerbout, Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, CN; Reykjavík International Film Festival, IS; Museum De Pont, Tilburg, NL; Het Bos, Antwerp, BE; Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, NL; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, NL; Dortmunder U, DE; East China Normal University, Shanghai, CN; Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy, Amsterdam, NL; Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, NL; Museum Hilversum, NL; Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL; De School, Amsterdam, NL; WOW, Amsterdam, NL.
2017 Bei Cosy, rongwrong, Amsterdam, NL.
2016 Sounds of Music, Tschumipaviljoen, Groningen, NL.
2016 Sandberg Instituut MA Graduation Show, Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam, NL.
2016 Untitled (Two Takes on Crisis), De Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam, NL.
2016 Rietveld @ Salto TV, Salto TV, NL.
2016 One Minute: Healing Tool, curated by Shana Moulton, 66th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, DE; China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, CN; Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, CN; Reykjavík International Film Festival, IS; Intersections at Art Rotterdam, NL; 1646, The Hague, NL; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, NL; deBuren, Brussels, BE; ikonoTV; Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, NL; Dortmunder U, DE; Drents Museum / CBK Drenthe, Assen, NL; A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise, NL; Roef Festival, Amsterdam, NL; East China Normal University, Shanghai, CN; Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy, Amsterdam, NL; Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, NL; Museum Hilversum, NL; Museum De Pont, Tilburg, NL; SCHUNCK*, Heerlen, NL; WOW, Amsterdam, NL.
2016–2017 Sozialfiguren der Gegenwart – 150 Jahre Lette Verein, 18/1 billboard, U-Bahnhof Viktoria-Luise-Platz, Berlin, DE.
2015 Meditation for Schaeuble, Patras and Athens, GR.
2015 Reformat, Ruchama Noorda, Royal Academy of Art Galleries, The Hague, NL.
2015 Reframe Memory, Athens Photo Festival, BENTEN CLAY, Benaki Museum, Athens, GR.
2014 Ouch, Het Vijfde Seizoen, Den Dolder, NL.
2014 Risk, RE-culture Festival III, BENTEN CLAY, Patras, GR.
2014 Mitteilungen, 6th European Month of Photography, BENTEN CLAY, Strahler – Raum für Fotografie, Berlin, DE.
2014 moving_image, a contemporary ABC, BENTEN CLAY, Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, FR.
2014 Ostrale, BENTEN CLAY, Dresden, DE.
2014 Clash Project, BENTEN CLAY, Fashionclash, Maastricht, NL.
2014 Metsä Pako, Brunswick Music Festival, BENTEN CLAY, Brunswick Arts Centre, Melbourne, AU.
2013 ReMap4, BENTEN CLAY, Athens, GR (solo exhibition).
2013 FAIL again!, BENTEN CLAY, Souterrain, Berlin, DE.
2013 Update, BENTEN CLAY, Schwules Museum, Berlin, DE.
2013 FAIL!, BENTEN CLAY, Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Berlin, DE.
2013 Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, BENTEN CLAY, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, DE.
2013 FREE WATER, BENTEN CLAY, Jardim Público, Évora, PT (solo exhibition).
2013 100.000, Pori Art Museum, BENTEN CLAY, Pori, FI.
2012 Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, BENTEN CLAY, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR.
2012 IN TRANSIT. Der Blick der Anderen, 5th European Month of Photography, BENTEN CLAY, Bahnhof Ostkreuz, Berlin, DE.
2012 The Promise, 5th European Month of Photography, BENTEN CLAY, Plattenpalast, Berlin, DE (solo exhibition).
2012 100.000, BENTEN CLAY, Freies Museum, Berlin, DE (solo exhibition).
2012 The Surface of Displacement, BENTEN CLAY, Galerie Loris, Berlin, DE (solo exhibition).
2012 Flying Falls, BENTEN CLAY, Rahmensalon, Berlin, DE (solo exhibition).
2012 Electric Darkness, Winter Lights Festival, BENTEN CLAY, Gallery of SÍM – Association of Icelandic Visual Artists, Reykjavík, IS.
2011 Westminster Photography Prize, Freies Museum, Berlin, DE.
2011 An Informal Meeting About Nothing In Particular, BENTEN CLAY, Arteles Gallery, Haukijärvi, FI (solo exhibition).
2011 BENTEN CLAY, Art Fair, Tampere, FI.
2011 Vakuumresonanz, curated by Foundation F.C. Gundlach, Gallery Pixel Grain, Berlin, DE (solo exhibition).
2011 Solaris Project, artist-run cooperative, Antje Oeklesund, Berlin, DE.
2010 Westminster Photography Prize, London, GB.
2010 Black Door Istanbul, Istanbul, TR.
2010 Solaris Project, artist-run cooperative, Alte Kindl Brauerei, Berlin, DE.
2010 2. Neuköllner Kunstsalon, Alte Kindl Brauerei, Berlin, DE.
2010 Böhm TradeCenter, http://www.boehmkobayashi.de/tradecenter/
2010 Lette 2010, Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin, DE.
2009 Lichtjahre, Graduation Show Lette-Verein, Umspannwerk, Berlin, DE.
2008 Suburbia, Academy Meets Photokina, Cologne, DE.
2008 Glance vs. Gaze, 3rd European Month of Photography Berlin, Lette-Verein, Berlin, DE.
2008 Die Seele des Bildes, 3rd European Month of Photography, Galerie Colonialwaren, Berlin, DE.
2008 G+J Photo Award, Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg, DE.
2022 Commoning Art – Die transformativen Potentiale von Commons in der Kunst, Vera Hofmann, Johannes Euler, Linus Zurmühlen, Silke Helfrich, transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2022, ISBN 978-3-8376-6404-1.
2022 Magazine and archive: yearofthewomen.net, co-published with Schwules Museum, 2022.
2021 Radicalizing Care. Feminist and Queer Activism in Curating, edited by Elke Krasny, Sophie Lingg, Lena Fritsch, Birgit Bosold, Vera Hofmann, Sternberg Press, Berlin 2021, ISBN 978-3-95679-590-9.
2021 Year of the Women*, in: kuratieren, no. 7, with Birgit Bosold, edited by Ulrike Boskamp, Verlag der Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung, Hohenlockstedt 2021, ISSN 2510-2273.
2012 Der gestohlene Fluß, BENTEN CLAY Publishers, 2012.
2012 Onkalo, BENTEN CLAY Publishers, 2012.
2009 Vakuumresonanz (self-published artist edition), 2009. (In several collections)
2009 Was bleibt (self-published artist edition), 2009.
2009 Cariz (self-published artist edition), 2009. (Profifoto + CEWE Fotobuch Pro Award)
2025 Text essay: Commoning Art – Jenseits von Werk und Wert, in: alles allen, edited by Göngrich, Markwalder, della Valle, adocs, Hamburg 2025, ISBN 978-3-943253-97-9.
2023 Text: Commons und Commoningstrategien in der Kunst – eine erste Sortierung, in: Staub zu Glitzer. Organizing Cultural Commons, Fonds Darstellende Künste, Berlin 2023.
2022 Art Works: Capitalism, Umbigo Magazine, no. 81, Umbigo Edições, Lda., Lissabon 2022.
2021 Peer-reviewed text essay (with Birgit Bosold): THE YEAR OF THE WOMEN at Schwules Museum Berlin – Notes on the Effects of Queer-Feminist Curating in the Largest Museum for LGBTIQA+ Memory*, in: Radicalizing Care. Feminist and Queer Activism in Curating, edited by Elke Krasny, Sophie Lingg, Lena Fritsch, Birgit Bosold, Vera Hofmann, Sternberg Press, Berlin 2021, ISBN 978-3-95679-590-9.
2017 Visual essay (text Birgit Bosold): How Could This Have Happened? Reflections on Current Programming Strategies of Schwules Museum Berlin, in: Queer Curating, on curating, Issue 37 / June 2017, edited by Jonathan Katz, Isabell Hufschmidt, Änne Söll, Dorothee Richter, Zürich 2017.
2017 Poster: „Und, wie ist es so, im Schwulen Museum zu arbeiten?“, in: I Wanna Give You Devotion, Philipp Gufler, Platform München 2017.
2015 Photographic double spread: Time Capsule, in: Rosegarden, no. 2/2015, Rosegarden Verlag UG, Berlin 2015.
2014 Graphic: Useless Artist Disease Support Group Ad, in: Ouch! / Au!, Stichting Kunstenaarsverblijf Het Vijfde Seizoen, Den Dolder 2014, ISBN 978-90-822437-1-0.
2012 Photographic series (with BENTEN CLAY), in: 5. Europäischer Monat der Fotografie, Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH / Kerber Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86678-770-4.
2012 Photographic series (with BENTEN CLAY), in: Glove Magazine, edited by Carolina Trigo, Jyväskylä 2012.
2012 Cover: Portrait (BENTEN CLAY), in: KUNST MAGAZIN, KUNST Verlag, Berlin 2012.
2012 Photographic series (with BENTEN CLAY), in: EIN Magazine, TA Collective, Berlin 2012.
2012 Photographic series (with BENTEN CLAY), in: The Arteles Catalogue, Arteles Creative Center, Haukijärvi 2012.
2010 Cover and photographic series: Neoplex, in: 4th Annual westPHOTO Photography Prize, University of Westminster, London 2010.
2010 Photographic series: Vakuumresonanz, in: next 1 – discussing photography, edited by Kerstin Stremmel, Essen 2010.
2010 Photographic series: Vakuumresonanz, in: Böhm/Kobayashi Encyclopedia, edited by Katja Stuke & Oliver Sieber, Köln 2010.
2010 Photographic series: Vakuumresonanz, in: NEUBAU. Magazin für Fotografie, edited by Benz/Hesse, Berlin 2010.
2008 Photographic series: Something Went Wrong, in: 3. Europäischer Monat der Fotografie, edited by Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-940231-04-8.
