Joseph Kohlmaier
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Mahler LeWitt Studios. Residency, Spoleto, 2025

Joseph Kohlmaier was born in Vienna and lives in London and on the Isle of Wight. Joseph’s work is multifaceted, situated at the intersection of different disciplines and activities that oscillate between solitary practice and collective performance. It is animated by the question of how we learn, how thought is related to symbolic form, the agony and potential of collective acts, the general ecology of the chorus, and marginalised ways of thinking such as the role of embodiment and felt sense in the production of knowledge.

Joseph has been a teacher for more than twenty years and is currently Associate Teaching Professor in history and theory at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University. He is the founder and creative director of several collectives, organisations and educational projects including experimental choral ensemble Musarc (2009–present), Field Studies (2010–17, 2025–present), graphic design studio Polimekanos (with Stefan Kraus, 2000–2020), and independent imprint Cours de Poétique. It is through these frameworks that Joseph’s practice evolves and where it has had the greatest impact by creating spaces for people to experiment with new ideas. As a curator and producer, Joseph has commissioned and worked with emerging and established artists, and collaborated with leading arts organisations in the UK and Europe on projects that have transformed the landscape of education, contemporary music, and performance.

Residencies

  • Mahler LeWitt Studios, Spoleto (Italy), 23 August – 3 September 2025
  • Northampton Complaints Choir, 22 April – 2 June 2023. With Simon Wright (curator), Emer Grant (commissioner), Ilenia Cipollari, Agnieszka Cybul, Aranzazu Fernandez Rangel, Carol Mancke, Derk Ringers, Toby O’Connor, Anna Schabel, and James Wignall. Commissioned by NN Contemporary.
  • Post Disaster Rooftops, Taranto (Italy), 10 March – 29 May 2022. With Neil Luck, Marie Hamilton, Sara Rodrigues, and Aga Beaupré.
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The learning body: Field Studies, LUCA School of Art, Ghent, 2025

Teaching Programmes and Workshops

  • Field Studies (Another Art School), or: Terms and Conditions, Raleigh Chapel, Stoke Newington, 9–12 April 2026. With Mariam Bergloff (co-organiser and host).
  • Critical and Contextual Studies, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 2009–2025. Head of Critical and Contextual Studies, 2015–21. Convenor of the school-wide, interdisciplinary Dissertation Studio Programme, 2015–23. Convenor, Critical and Contextual Studies in Fine Art, 2023–present.
  • Field Studies 2025: A Choral Method, LUCA School of Art, Ghent, 10–14 September 2025. With Aliaskar Abarkas, David Helbich, Edka Jarząb, Volkmar Klien, Klara Kofen, Lore Lixenberg, Carolyn Roy, Michael Schmid, Lin Chiwei, Cameron Dodds, Imogen Stidworthy, and Wim Lambrecht.
  • The Learning Body, London Metropolitan University, 9 February 2025. Hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts, Cultures and Engagement (CREATURE).
  • Poetry and Architecture, 2017–2023. MArch/RIBA Part II History and Theory Programme.
  • The Soundscape of Modernity, London Metropolitan University, 2011–2015. MArch/RIBA Part II History and Theory Programme.
  • Field Studies 2017: Listening After Pauline Oliveros, University of Leeds, 12–15 October 2017. With Sam Belinfante and Ed McKeon.
  • Field Studies 2015, School of Art, Architecture and Design, 30 March – 2 April 2015. With Helen Frosi, Melanie Pappenheim, Stefan Kraus, David Toop, Ed McKeon, Helen Mallinson, Neil Luck, Adam de la Cour, and Iris Garrelfs.
  • Field Studies 2014, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 14–17 February 2014. With Sam Auinger, Michael Kliën, Claudia Molitor, Akio Suzuki, Aki Onda, David Toop, Stefan Kraus, and Melanie Pappenheim.
  • Field Studies 2012, Columbia Wharf, London, 10 September 2012. With Brandon LaBelle, Lee Patterson, Davide Tidoni, and Christina Kubisch.
  • Forward, Lamefoot!, LUCA School of Art, Ghent, 17–20 December 2012. MA Winter Workshop Sessions.
  • Field Studies 2011, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 13–16 September 2011. With Raviv Ganchrow, Liminal, Esther Venrooij, David Grandorge, Allan Seago, Ian Rawes, and Tim Ingold.
  • Field Studies 2010, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 13–16 September 2010. With Marc Behrens, Justin Bennett, and John Levack Drever.
  • Concepts of Space, London Metropolitan University, 2009–2011. MArch/RIBA Part II History and Theory Programme.

Lectures and Talks

  • A Felt Sense. The Philosophy of Eugene Gendlin, part of Another Art School: Terms and Conditions, 9 April 2026, 6pm
  • LETHE by Lixo, Cafe OTO, 18 September 2025, 7pm. With Lore Lixenberg. Screening plus pre-concert talk and Q&A with Joseph Kohlmaier.
  • Fabio Lattanzi Antinori: Office Party, 12 Hammersmith Grove, London, 27 November 2024, 6–8pm. With Fabio Lattanzi Antinori. Performance and podium discussion with Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, Nick Couldry and Joseph Kohlmaier on datafication of our lives and how emerging modes of extraction are reshaping language, creativity, and the notion of ownership.
  • Course in Poetics: Second Lesson, 25 May 2024. With Claudia Molitor (curator and organiser). Performative talk at SPARC symposium, City University London.
  • The Human Being is this Night: A Headphone Soliloquy, Iklektik, 6 September 2022. With Ed Cooper.
  • Acoustics of Resistance / The End of World Service, University of Leeds, Arts and Humanities Research Institute, 4 May 2022, 6–8pm. With Sam Belinfante (curator and organiser) and Mikhail Karikis (speaker).
  • L’oreille sauvage d’après Truffaut, Site Gallery, Sheffield, 25 May 2017. With Sam Belinfante (curator). Performance lecture (screening).
  • Reading the Library: Joseph Kohlmaier and Esther Venrooij, LUCA School of Art, Ghent, 16 March 2017. With Esther Venrooij and Wim Lambrecht.
  • Sound, Space and Acts of Performance, Bartlett UCL, 9 March 2017, 6–8pm. Talk and discussion with Simon Bainbridge, Kyveli Anastasiadi and Gerardo Gozzi.
  • Umwelten: On the Creative Act, Vooruit, Ghent, 7 May 2014, 8pm. Talk and podium discussion with Stephanie Bunn (GB), Sarah & Charles (BE), Lucas Devriendt (BE), and Jean-François Pirson (BE).
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Ektoras Arkomanis (ed.), Migrations in New Cinema, 2020

Publications as Editor or Publisher

  • Aleks Catina, The Pillars of Uncertainty: A Jeu d’Esprit on the Monument (London, Cours de Poétique, 2026)
  • Heleen van Haegenborgh and Musarc, Affordances. Works for Mixed Choir, Instruments and Percussion, 2019–25 (London, SN Variations and Cours de Poétique, 2025)
  • Neil Luck, Sensible Activities. An Oblique to Eden Box (London, Cours de Poétique and Accidental Records, 2024)
  • Sam Belinfante (ed.), On the Circulation of Blood (London, Cours de Poétique, 2022)
  • Ektoras Arkomanis (ed.), Migrations in New Cinema (London, Cours de Poétique, 2020)
  • Neil Luck, Bloody Sirens (London, Entr’acte, 2018)
  • Sam Belinfante and Joseph Kohlmaier (eds.), The Listening Reader (London, Cours de Poétique, 2016)
  • Jen Calleja (ed.), Unreal City (London, Cours de Poétique, 2016)
  • Otto Friedrich Bollnow, Joseph Kohlmaier (ed.) and Christine Shuttleworth (trans.), Human Space (London, Hyphen Press, 2011)
  • Chris Villars (ed.), Morton Feldman Says (London, Hyphen Press, 2006)

Publications as Author

  • ‘Hyperwelt’, in: Esther Venrooij, Vanhee Isolde and de Smet Annelies (eds.), Between the Fiction and Me: Umwelten of Artists and Architects (Ghent, Grafische Cel, 2018)
  • ‘The Imaginary Sensory’, in: Sam Belinfante and Joseph Kohlmaier (eds.), The Listening Reader, (London, Cours de Poétique, 2016), pp. 103–115
  • Katie Beswick, Harriet Hawkins and Joseph Kohlmaier, ‘The road to Epidaurus is like the road to creation: tapping the urban archive’, in: Cultural Geographies, 23 (3), (London, Sage, 2016), pp. 545–552
  • Joseph Kohlmaier, ‘The transparency of the medium: On teaching Field Studies’, in: The Sampler (Sound and Music (online), March 2015)
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Joseph Kohlmaier and Claudia Molitor, Die Gedanken sind Frei, Odrathek, 2018

Projects with Musarc

Projects with Musarc have been developed in close collaboration with the ensemble’s Directors of Music, Cathy Heller Jones (2009–21), David Young (2024–25) and Oli Kitching (2025–present), and guest Directors of Music Jack Sheen (2022–23), Melanie Pappenheim (2014–2022) and Patricia Auchterlonie (2023). Sam Belinfante has acted as Artistic Director and Co-Director on numerous projects 2009–present.

  • Berberiana! A celebration of Cathy at 100, Cafe OTO, 17 September 2025, 7pm. With Lore Lixenberg. Performance part of Lore Lixenberg’s residency at Cafe OTO, 17–19 September 2025.
  • Staring at the Sun. Album launch + Musarc Folk Meet on a Midsummer Day Until Dusk VI, St Paul’s Bow Common, 21 June 2025. With Heleen Van Haegenborgh, Joanna Ward, Reuben Esterhuizen, and Oli Kitching.
  • Lin Chiwei: Quipou Sonore 1.5 Stéréo at Amez Yavuz Gallery, 6 June 2025, 2–5pm. With Lin Chiwei (composer). Open performance of Lin Chiwei’s Quipou Sonore score part of London Gallery Weekend.
  • Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhust’s The Call at SWSX, SXSW London, Protein Studios, London EC2A, 4 June 2025, 5–6pm. Open recording project leading public choir. With London Contemporary Voices.
  • Into the Garden of Chimerical Delights. Fashion in Film Festival, Barbican Cinema 1, 30 May 2025. With Marketa Uhlirova (curator), Andy Cowton, Carol Mancke, Carolyn Roy, Derk Ringers, Fiona Thendean, Franziska Böhm, Hannah Archambault, Isabelle Pead, Kalina Pulit, Lizi Sanchez, Lola Wilson, Łukasz Kopeç, Mariam Bergloff, Max West, Michael Poole, Molly Astley, Natalie Savva, Rebecca Faulkner, Saori Miraku, Tara Fatehi, and Zeina Nasr. For UAL University of the Arts London and Barbican Centre.
  • The Call: Finissage, Stone Nest, London W1, 30 January 2025, 7pm. With Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst. An open choral recording session to close Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst’s Serpentine Exhibition. Director of the public choir. For Serpentine.
  • Still Think This is a Dream? Musarc Winter Konsert 2024, The Wash Houses, London Metropolitan University, 14 December 2024. With Benjamin Oliver, Imogen Stidworthy, Rachel Warr, and David Young.
  • Keyword Karaoke. Musarc + Fabio Lattanzi Antinori, 12 Hammersmith Grove, 27 November 2024. With Fabio Lattanzi Antinori.
  • Choir as Method. Musarc Folk Meet on a Midsummer Day until Dusk V, St Paul’s Bow Common, 22 June 2024. With Heleen Van Haegenborgh, Pat Thomas, Lin Chiwei, Jennifer Walshe, and Rachel Warr.
  • Nervous Systems. Musarc at ICA Institute of Contemporary Arts, ICA Institute of Contemporary Arts, 14 April 2024. With Sam Belinfante and Jennifer Walshe.
  • The Call: Songbook and Recording Sessions, 25 March – 30 April 2024. With Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst and David Young.
  • Cafe OTO Offsite: Keiji Haino & Musarc, St John on Bethnal Green, 11 March 2024. With Keiji Haino.
  • We Are Participating. Musarc Winter Konsert 2023, The Wash Houses, London Metropolitan University, 16 December 2023. With Sam Belinfante, Jennifer Walshe, Elisabeth Schimana, Hester Dart, Sylvia Lim, Laure Prouvost, Ben Smith, and David Young.
  • Artangel presents: The Last Seven Years. Jay Bernard with Musarc and Petero Kalulé (petals), Bold Tendencies, 1 September 2023. With Jay Bernard and Petero Kalulé (petals).
  • Pfeiffertag. Musarc Folk Meet on a Midsummer Day until Dusk, St Paul’s Bow Common, 24 June 2023. With Jan Hendrickse, Neil Luck, Lin Chiwei, and Patricia Auchterlonie.
  • What You Will Watch and Hear: Musarc at Lisson Gallery, Lisson Gallery, 2 June 2023. With Amina Abbas-Nazari and Jenna Sutela.
  • Pond Corpse: New works by Jack Sheen, Eleanor Cully Boehringer, HNRI + Patricia Auchterlonie + Standard Issue, Rose Lipman Building, 29 April 2023. With Jack Sheen, Eleanor Cully Boehringer, Haunted Network Research Initiative, Patricia Auchterlonie, and Standard Issue.
  • Northampton Complaints Choir (Open Song), 21 April – 2 June 2023. With Ilenia Cipollari, Agnieszka Cybul, Aranzazu Fernandez Rangel, Carol Mancke, Derk Ringers, Toby O’Connor, Anna Schabel, and James Wignall.
  • Tree Talks: Wood Sectional. Musarc joins Architecture on Stage at the Barbican, 25 January 2023. With Judith Lösing and Angela Wai-Nok Hui.
  • Brain Odysseys: A Level Playing Field. Musarc in Collaboration with Rosetta Life, London Metropolitan University, 22 November – 13 December 2022. With Melanie Pappenheim, Orlando Gough, Amber Priestley, and Pia Rose Scattergood.
  • Musarc and Jack Sheen present: Croon Harvest on ResonanceExtra, Resonance Extra, 6 November 2022, 12–1pm. With Jack Sheen.
  • O Complex Mass. A Concrete Liturgy for Dilston Grove, Dilston Gallery, 23 October 2022. With John Lawrence, Melanie Pappenheim, and Stephen Crowe.
  • We Are the Fortunate Ones: Musarc + Peter Broderick + First Terrace Records, Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall, 2 October 2022. With Peter Broderick and Ben See.
  • Hysterical and Happy: Musarc at LCMF, LCMF London Contemporary Music Festival, 19 June 2022. With Melanie Pappenheim.
  • The End of the World Service. Musarc in the Land of Remorse, Post Disaster, Taranto, Italy, 27–29 May 2022. With Sara Rodrigues, Neil Luck, Aga Beaupré, and Mela Boev.
  • Jack Sheen: Croon Harvest workshop and broadcast programme, London Metropolitan University, 15 March – 30 April 2022. With Jack Sheen.
  • Cathy Heller Jones: On Repetition, London Metropolitan University, 1 February – 1 March 2022. With Cathy Heller Jones.
  • Caroline Kraabel: On Improvisation, London Metropolitan University, 23 November 2021 – 14 December 2022. With Caroline Kraabel.
  • The Orrery. Musarc at LCMF, LCMF London Contemporary Music Festival, 7 December 2019. With Sam Belinfante, Fritz Hauser, Lina Lapelytė, and Jennifer Walshe.
  • Musarc at BBC Proms with Neil Luck, Battersea Arts Centre, 27 June 2019. With Neil Luck.
  • Le Marteau sans Maître. Musarc Folk Meet on a Midsummer Day until Dusk III, The Whitechapel Bell Foundry, 6 June 2019. With Rūta Vitkauskaitė, Steve Potter, Nissa Nishikawa, Natasha Zielasinski, Greta Eacott, Lin Chiwei, James Luff, Amina Abbas-Nazari, and Heleen Van Haegenborgh.
  • GESTALT MINIMAL + Tape Music (Score for Musarc). Musarc at STUK Artefact Audiostories, STUK, Leuwen, 3 March 2019. With Greta Eacott and Lin Chiwei.
  • See, We Assemble. Musarc Winter Konsert at LCMF, 12 December 2018. With Edwina Attlee, Sylvia Lim, Ashley Paul, Claudia Molitor, Steve Potter, and Georgia Rodgers.
  • Rainbows at the New RA, Royal Academy, 19 May 2018. With Sarah Kate Wilson.
  • ODRATHEK: How to Make Music in the Cthulucene, The Workshop SE1, 11–13 May 2018. With Rebecca Jagoe, Edka Jarząb, Jenny Moore, Célia Gondol, Benedict Drew, Jenna Sutela, Rie Nakajima, Volkmar Klien, Neil Luck, Esther Venrooij, Lore Lixenberg, Alex de Little, Sarah Kate Wilson, Claudia Molitor, Amina Abbas-Nazari, Amber Priestley, Karin Hasselberg, Heleen Van Haegenborgh, MORE: Collective, and Allon Kaye.
  • Royal Academy Presents: Experiencing Architecture – Inviting Dialogue, Walmer Yard, 21 April 2018. With Laura Mark.
  • NO WAY. Musarc Winter Konsert, Christ Church Spitalfields, 16 December 2017. With Alex de Little, Jessica Smulders-Cohen, Jacopo Belloni, Orlando Gough, Neil Luck, and Stuart Mellor.
  • Mains Hum, Lisson Gallery, 22 September – 11 November 2017. With David Lang, Donald Nally, and Allora and Calzadilla.
  • To Mill Two Queens, MK Gallery, 30 June 2017. With Sarah Kate Wilson, TONGUE, Neil Luck, Piper Haywood, Toby O’Connor, and Simon Wright (curator).
  • Rainbows, Rochester Square, 24 June 2017. With Sarah Kate Wilson, Toby O’Connor, and Piper Haywood.
  • Do Disturb. Musarc at Palais de Tokyo, 21–23 April 2017. With Sam Belinfante, Ben Hadley, Neil Luck, Sarah Kate Wilson, and TONGUE.
  • Visually Similar Images: Musarc Winter Konsert, Truman Brewery, 16 December 2016. With Anton Lukoszevieze, Sarah Kate Wilson, and Neil Luck.
  • Museum of Dark Places, Museum of London, 2 November 2016. With Jes Fernie.
  • before sleep at the end of love (description of a lullaby), Bold Tendencies, 27 September 2016. With Sarah Hardie, Jack Sheen, and Eleesha Drennan.
  • Musarc and Manu Delago, Austrian Cultural Forum, 19 June 2016. With Manu Delago.
  • On Repetition: Musarc Folk Meet on a Midsummer Day until Dusk, Truman Brewery, 11 June 2016. With Neil Luck, Anton Lukoszevieze, and Lin Chiwei.
  • Drivetime Underground. With Neil Luck at ResonanceFM, 4 June 2016. With Neil Luck.
  • Musarc at Wysing Polyphonic, Wysing Polyphonic, 2 June 2016. With Sam Belinfante, Elaine Mitchener, and Lin Chiwei.
  • Musarc Christmas Concert 2015, St George’s Bloomsbury, 19 December 2015. With Pavel Büchler, Pselodux, Alex de Little, Neil Luck, and Claudia Molitor.
  • Musarc and Entr’acte present: Bloody Sirens, Extra City Antwerp, 15 October 2015. With Neil Luck and Allon Kaye.
  • Corpus Sonus at London Open: Live, Whitechapel Gallery, 20 July 2015. With Sam Belinfante.
  • Musarc Folk Meet on a Midsummer Day until Dusk I, The Round Chapel, 20 June 2015. With Melanie Pappenheim, Alex de Little, and Neil Luck.
  • Lin Chiwei: Tape Music, 2 April 2015. With Lin Chiwei.
  • How to Construct a Time Machine, MK Gallery, 21 March 2015. With Melanie Pappenheim, Neil Luck, Stefan Kraus, and Simon Wright (curator).
  • Musarc Christmas Concert 2014, Christ Church Spitalfields, 20 December 2014. With Clay Gould, Eloise Nancy Gynn, Matthew Dalziel, Jessica Smulders-Cohen, and Laure Prouvost.
  • Musarc Midsummer Festival, Barbican Public Realm, 28 June 2014. With Jan Hendrickse.
  • Musarc at TÖNE Festival, Chatham Historic Dockyard, 20 June 2014. With Claudia Molitor.
  • The Passion of Lagamas & Jephte, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 4 April 2014. With Melanie Pappenheim.
  • Musarc Christmas Concert 2013, St George’s Bloomsbury, 20 December 2013
  • Musarc and Melanie Pappenheim present: Again Again, MK Gallery, 9 November 2013. With Melanie Pappenheim and Simon Wright (curator).
  • On Air II, 20 June 2013. With Neil Luck, Melanie Pappenheim, Hayley Newman, and Hannibal Andersen.
  • Musarc at St George’s Bloomsbury, 26 April 2013
  • Losing Touch, or: Old Joe has Gone Fishing, National Maritime Museum, 14 March 2013
  • Musarc Christmas Concert, St Bartholomew the Great, 14 December 2012. With Sam Belinfante, Toby O’Connor, and Esther Waterfield.
  • A Sonic View, Bold Tendencies, 7 July 2012. With Claudia Molitor, Michael Betteridge, Toby O’Connor, and Esther Waterfield.
  • Agency Gallery and MK Gallery present: Antistrophe, V22 and MK Gallery, 9 June 2012. With Sam Belinfante and Simon Wright.
  • Corpus Sonus, Turner Contemporary, 20 April 2012. With Sam Belinfante.
  • Chambers IV, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 30 March 2012. With Yuri Suzuki and Matthew Kneebone.
  • Bang! Being the Building, Barbican Gallery, 26 January 2012
  • Musarc Christmas Concert, St Bartholomew the Great, 16 December 2011. With Matthew Kneebone, Yuri Suzuki, Ev Buckley, Georgia Rodgers, Sarah Angliss, and Alan Tomlinson.
  • Chambers III, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 7 April 2011. With Neil Luck and Bob Harbison.
  • Musarc Christmas Concert, St Bartholomew the Great, 10 December 2010. With Kite and Laslett and Sam Belinfante.
  • On Air, St Stephen Walbrook, 1 June 2010. With Neil Luck, Benjamin Oliver, and Tom Chant.
  • Musarc presents: Chambers, School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University, 26 March 2010. With Sam Belinfante and Audialsense.
  • Musarc Christmas Concert, St Bartholomew the Great, 11 December 2009. With Lou Smith and Matt Venn.
  • Juxtaposition, Wilton’s Music Hall, 10 June 2009. With Sam Belinfante, Mary Dullea, Allon Kaye, and Kallabris.
  • Musarc and Entr’acte present: Chambers, School of Art, Architecture and Design, 23–27 March 2009. With Sam Belinfante, Marc Behrens, Allon Kaye, and Esther Venrooij.
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The Big Sad, London Contemporary Music Festival. Programme design, 2022

Visual Communication and Graphic Design

Joseph Kohlmaier’s work in visual communication and graphic design emerged from an engagement with research, writing, and the social dimension of photography and fine art rather than from formal education.

Joseph co-founded graphic design studio Polimekanos with Stefan Kraus in 2000 as an experimental space in which the ideas and professional practice of the two founders could converge. He acted as one of the studio’s creative directors until 2020. Early on, Polimekanos established a reputation for its open and interdisciplinary approach, going on to work with some of the UK’s leading curators, organisations, and institutions in the cultural and public sector, particularly in the domain of art, architecture and urbanism. The topography of information and language plays an important role in Joseph’s work as an artist and designer, particularly the question of how ideas materialise and are carried forward through montage, association and discursive practice, from casual speech acts to code and hypertext.

Joseph continues to work as a consultant, developer and graphic designer on a range of different projects, including all the framework projects central to his practice and teaching. The Network section of this website includes a list of selected clients from 2020–present.