On the future of art writing: a public talk with Dr. Gilda Williams, Louisa Elderton and Kirsty Lang
27 June 2024, 6.30pm
Forum am Schillerplatz, Robert-Stolz Platz 3, 1010 Vienna
In late June, Phileas hosted a public talk about Art Writing as part of our long commitment to support the field. It addressed the current predicaments facing art journalism and criticism and discussed ways to ensure its long-term survival.
The panel included three experts - Louisa Elderton, Kirsty Lang, and Dr. Gilda Williams - and was moderated by Margherita Belcredi of Phileas.
Louisa Elderton is an art critic, writer and editor, originally from London and based in Berlin since 2015. She is the Managing Editor for ICI Berlin Press, an independent, non-profit publisher that promotes radical lines of questioning, diverse voices, and novel approaches to academic scholarship. She contributes regularly to publications including frieze and Flash Art, and has written for The New York Times, Artforum, Texte zur Kunst, Mousse, Art Basel, Artnet News and Art Review, among others. From 2016–21, she was Project Editor of Phaidon’s Vitamin series and Content Editor of Great Women Artists. From 2019–22 she was the Curatorial Editor at Gropius Bau, writing exhibition texts and producing books on Yayoi Kusama, Otobong Nkanga, Lee Mingwei, Thea Djordjadze and Dayanita Singh. As a teacher, she has delivered seminars and created courses on art writing and editing for Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art and Berlin Art Institute.
Dr. Gilda Williams is an author, critic, educator and practising artist. She is the editor of ON&BY Andy Warhol (2016) and author of the bestselling book How to Write about Contemporary Art (2014), which has since been translated into seven languages. From 2008 to 2023, Williams was a Senior Lecturer on the MFA Curating programme at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where she taught art writing. As a longtime London correspondent for Artforum magazine and a member of the International Association of Art Critics, Williams has contributed significantly to the field of art criticism.
Kirsty Lang is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4 and one of Britain’s most respected and experienced journalists and broadcasters. Her career began in 1986 when she worked as Central Europe correspondent for the BBC World Service and as a reporter on Newsnight. Afterwards, she worked as Paris correspondent for The Sunday Times newspaper before joining Channel 4 News on which she was a regular presenter for four years. From 2002 she presented the TV news programmes The World and World News Today and became a regular presenter on the Radio 4 arts show Front Row. Lang has been a visiting professor at Columbia University in New York and currently lectures in Anthropology at University College, London. She chairs the Board of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead and since 2014 has been on the board of the British Council.
