The Art of Art Writing – From art criticism to creative writing (and back) - 2021

Are you an artist who integrates writing into your work? An art critic, art historian or journalist who writes about art? A student who wants to become a professional writer? A curator or gallerist who works with artists to articulate their practice? Perhaps you want to become more articulate when writing summaries of your practice for your website or a grant application, or maybe you simply want experiment and see where it goes. Whatever your experience or aims, this course gives you the opportunity to spend a dedicated period of time writing.

Focusing on the practice of writing and editing based on some theory, this course provides a solid introduction to art writing and a space for experimentation. Alternating between reading groups, writing exercises and shared-learning experiences, more intimate breakout rooms give the opportunity to share thoughts and questions in your primary language of German, French or English, during which time you will receive focused individual feedback. The online/offline presence of students from all around the world will be an extra opportunity for an enriching experience.

Together we produce different forms of art writing, from experimental vignettes to reviews, from exhibition texts to press releases, and even auto-fiction stories, all the while creating a safe and supportive space for feedback. Students explore how form, style, voice and narrative can be used to different effect, as well as the importance of editing when refining any text. We will also discuss how pitches can be shaped to get texts published.

The course offers personal working alongside like-minded people, with support and guidance from two experts with more than twenty years of art-writing experience. Placing art at the centre of the course, students learn the necessary tools for becoming their own breed of writer and getting excited and energized about exploring new directions.

Information

Venue: Hohensalzburg Fortress / online (hybrid)
Date: 26. 7. – 7. 8. 21
Requirements: Willingness to write and share ideas using basic English and being comfortable having conversations about art and the discourse that frames art.
What to bring: Laptop /tablet with camera, microphone and keyboard, paper and pen.
Teaching language: English and German (French also available)

Louisa Elderton

Louisa Elderton is a British art critic, writer, and editor based in Berlin. She is the Managing Editor of ICI Berlin Press, an independent, non-profit publisher that promotes radical lines of questioning, diverse voices, and novel approaches to academic scholarship, and was also recently the Text and Editorial Lead for Bergen Assembly 2025. Her writing has been featured in numerous publications including Artforum, Art Monthly, Artnet News, Art Review, Frieze, Flash Art, Harper’s Bazaar, Mousse, The New York Times, Vogue, and many more, as well as in gallery and museum catalogues and artist monographs. With significant experience of working for cultural institutions and galleries, she was Chief Editor of Side Magazine for Bergen Assembly 2022, Curatorial Editor at Gropius Bau from 2019–2022, and the Managing Editor of various publications for KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Hatje Cantz. From 2016–2019 she was Project Editor of Phaidon’s acclaimed ‘Vitamin’ series and Content Editor of Great Women Artists, and from 2011–16 she was a Curator & Artist Liaison at Blain|Southern. She has a Master’s degree in ‘Curating the Art Museum’ from The Courtauld Institute of Art, and specialised in learning and interpretation, as part of which she worked in the Research department at Tate.

Website

http://www.louisaelderton.com

Publications

Selected Magazines and Newspapers
“Thea Djordjadze: Become Like a Resonance Chamber” in: Plus Magazine, Issue 9, 2025.
“Is Smell the Next Big Thing?” in: Artnet News, 28 December 2025.
“Yayoi Kusama Is Still One of Our Most Important Artists” in: Frieze, 30 October 2025.
“How Ukrainian Artists Are Grappling with the War” in Artsy, 4 March 2025.
“Mortal Machines: Mire Lee” in: Flash Art, Issue 343, Fall, 2024.
“An Electric Temple of Culture Fires Up“ in: The New York Times, 11 September 2019.

Selected Book Chapters
An Endless Play of Surfaces: The Paintings of Erik Schmidt (essay for exhibition catalogue by KINDL, Berlin, 2025).
Vitamin V: Video and Moving Image in Contemporary Art (Phaidon, 2025).
Vitamin Txt: Words in Contemporary Art (Phaidon, 2024).
Vitamin C+: Collage in Contemporary Art (Phaidon, 2023).
Prime: Art’s Next Generation (Phaidon, 2022).
Birds: Exploring the Winged World (Phaidon, 2021).

Selected Editorial Work
Editor of Bergen Assembly 2025 Reader: across, with, nearby (Bergen Assembly 2025).
Copyeditor of Against Morality by Rosanna McLaughlin (Floating Opera Press, 2025).
Copyeditor of Imperfect Solidarities by Aruna D'Souza (Floating Opera Press, 2024).
Chief Editor of Side Magazine: Yasmine and the Seven Faces of the Heptahedron (Bergen Assembly/Wirklichkeit Books, 2022).
Managing Editor of Dayanita Singh: Dancing with my Camera (Gropius Bau/Hatje Cantz, 2022).
Managing Editor of Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective (Gropius Bau/Prestel, 2021).
Project Editor of Vitamin D3: New Perspectives in Painting (Phaidon, 2021).
Content Editor of Great Women Artists (Phaidon, 2019).

Photo: Claudia Peppel

Klaus Speidel

Klaus Speidel (PhD in philosophy) is an award-winning German art critic, curator and theorist. He writes for various print media, including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Spike and The Art Newspaper. He is co-founder of Verein K and facilitates Crit Cross. A Forum on Art Criticism. He currently teaches art history, art and curation in Vienna and image theory in Paris.

Publications

Magazines & newspapers
“The Sorrows of Young Andy. Andy Warhol Exhibits. A Glittering Alternative. mumok Wien”, in: Spike Art Quarterly #66, Winter 2020/2021
"Steirischer Herbst Graz aka Paranoia TV: Altes Broadcasting", in: artmagazine.cc, 20.10.20.
"Sie wollen uns erzählen", in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17 April 2019.

Journal Articles
“‘Telling in Time’ Extended: How Single Pictures Convey Stories, Evoking Suspense, Curiosity, Surprise and Relief”, in: Poetics Today, Vol. 41, 2020 (i.E.) (EN).
“Pictorial Narrative with Tension and Relief”, in: Storyworlds. A Journal of Narrative Studies, 10.1.2, 2020.

Book Contributions
"Stabile Bilder der fragilen Schöpfung: Von Bildern der Natur zur Natur als Bild / Stable images of fragile creation. From pictures of nature to nature as a picture", in: Fragile Schöpfung, Johanna Schwanberg (Hg.), Dom Museum Vienna, 2020.
"Witz, Würdigung und Remix. Rückbezug als Innovation in der zeitgenössischen Zeichnung und Fotografie", in: Comeback. Kunsthistorische Renaissancen, Nicole Fritz (ed.), Kunsthalle Tübingen, 2019.
Bosch & Pitié. Agathe Pitié. Visionen des Jüngsten Gerichts / Visions of Last Judgement, Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna, 2019.