Karen Lohrmann is an artist, writer, editor and producer based in Rome. Central to her work is the focus on editorial processes as critical and projective tools.  

She is cofounder of the studio practice SdMKLm together with Stefano de Martino. Working in collaboration since the early 2000s, they address spaces in transformation, cultural manifestations and resultant landscapes. In 2009, they started the print edition Correspondents in Berlin. In 2011, they launched the platform Urban States in Los Angeles. In 2017, they initiated the testing ground Bay of Mars in Naples, coinciding with the spatial and ecological reclamation of a 16th century rural complex and experimental landscape. In 2020, their ongoing cycle of works Waiting Land was one of the conceptual segments of the FRAC Orléans Biennale, Years of Solitude.

She is coauthor of Update: All Possible Worlds (2008), How We Spent It (2009), and Waiting Land (2017). She is coeditor of the essay collection Clear Skies with Patches of Grey (2003) and the editor of Midsize America (2012) and the edition Correspondents (2009—ongoing). Recent publications include essays, reviews, and retrospective scripts — a form of writing derived from the diversity of her practice. She occasionally also authors or edits zines and other unlimited printed matter.

With a background in art history, architecture and scenic design she combines these fields with a long dedication to education. A mentor, advisor, and frequent guest to art, design and architecture institutions internationally, she has lectured widely and taught at TU Berlin, University of Innsbruck, Harvard Graduate School of Design, UCLA School of the Arts and SCI-Arc Los Angeles.