Seminar THE ART OF WRITING by Louisa Elderton

February 13 – 15, 2018, 10 am – 1 pm

Many thanks to the curator, editor and writer Louisa Elderton for her seminar “THE ART OF WRITING” and discussing the short-form writings of our participants.

“For many artists, writing is actively a part of their practice, and for others, verbalising and writing about their artistic intentions is second nature. However for some, it might not flow as easily. Particularly if you’re an emerging artist, being able to put your practice into words can be very valuable in terms of communicating you intentions, be it to an audience, a gallerist/collector/critic, or if you’re applying for funding, presenting an exhibition project, or writing a press release. In the early stages of your practice, when you might not have had many critics responding to your work, being able to communicate the basics of what you’re making and why you’re doing it can provide valuable insight.

Art criticism is a practice in decline (arguably because of the proliferation of online platforms and the difficulty of art magazines to financially survive in this day and age), but it is essential for a vibrant and analytical art scene. It also has a strong historical tradition. Indeed, being critical about your own practice is a vital skill to develop, and writing can help to hone and understand your intentions.

With this seminar, we will work together to explore short-form art writing. We will learn how to clearly formulate an idea, how to analyse and evaluate individual artworks and their display meaningfully. We will look at different styles of writing: concise paragraph descriptions and press releases, for example. We will discuss how to meet writers and, indeed, how you might aim to have your exhibitions reviewed. We will also have the opportunity to meet each other individually, so that I can spend time with each of you, discussing your work and approaches.” (Louisa Elderton)

Louisa Elderton is a contemporary art curator, writer and editor. She received a First-Class Bachelor’s degree in Art History and English from The University of Sussex (2006) and a Master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art in Curating the Art Museum (2010), presenting an exhibition about Christian iconography in historical and contemporary art. From 2009–11 she worked for public institutions including Tate and The Whitechapel Gallery and was Writer in Residence at Jerwood Visual Arts. From 2012–15 she curated exhibitions for museums and commercial galleries by artists including Lawrence Weiner, Francesco Clemente, Douglas Gordon, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Nasan Tur and Rachel Howard, and relocated from London to Berlin in September 2015 to curate Time Capsules. By the side of the road. Wim Wenders’ recent photographs for Blain|Southern Berlin, in collaboration with Wenders Images.

She is a regular contributor to magazines including Artforum, Art Review, Frieze, Flash Art, Art Monthly, Elephant Magazine, Apollo, Modern Painters, artnet News, Metropolis M, Monopol, The Burlington Magazine, Vogue China, Harper’s Bazaar, Berlin Art Link, Artsy, House & Garden and The White Review. As an author, she has contributed to numerous exhibition catalogues and features in Phaidon’s books Vitamin P3: New Perspectives in Painting (2016) and Universe(upcoming, 2017). As an Editor, she has produced monographs on Rachel Howard, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Francesco Clemente and Jonas Burgert. She is Project Editor of Phaidon’s book Vitamin C: Clay & Ceramics in Contemporary Art (2017), and is currently producing the next in the Vitamin series (due for publication in 2018).