Art Writing Workshop: Experiments with Text-based Art

In this immersive workshop, we will delve into innovative approaches to art writing, drawing inspiration from text-based art. When artists ingeniously use text in their artwork, they blur the line between art and language by treating words, letters, and phrases as works of art on their own – think of the graffiti tags by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the leporellos of Etel Adnan or the writing waves of Hanne Darboven!

Throughout the workshop, we will look at how artistic experiments with language and form can bring about new critical thinking and refresh traditional forms of art writing, like exhibition reviews or curatorial statements.

We will finish with a tiny-scale DIY project: every participant will have a personal zine in their pocket.

This workshop is for curators, artists, word artists, critics

Program

Session 1: Experiments in Art Writing

Friday, June 16 / 3pm to 7pm Berlin Time CEST

• We will explore various artistic genres in writing such as asemic writing, conceptual writing and mail art by looking at examples of text-based art by Marcel Broodthaers, David Horvitz, Etel Adnan and more.
• Inspired by the literary theorist and philosopher Roland Barthes’ text ‘The Writer on Holiday’ (1957), we review texts produced by “writers on vacation” that play around with the visual aspect of their writing and move into the field of visual arts. Case studies include Gloria Anzaldúa and Travis Jeppesen.
• With short exercises, we will loosen the sound of our hand and experiment. What changes, for example, when we write in our out-breath, in colour, or with our “left” hand?

Session 2: Creating a Zine

Friday, June 23 / 3pm to 7pm Berlin Time CEST

• Drawing on the experiments and inspirations from the first session, we work on a piece of art writing.
• We will then consider how to create our own publications by looking for inspiration in various artists’ books.
• Finally, we will attempt to create our own zine.

Materials needed:

• For the writing exercises: a nice pen, and, if possible, various kinds of paper
• For the zine: a few A2 or A3 pages, and, if possible, cardboard for the Leporello cover

Learn more on the website of Node Center