Pollinator deadline today, plus upcoming events and opportunities
Whether you’re enjoying a break, getting time in the studio, or enjoying summer in the city, I hope you’re finding space to recharge and reconnect with what matters to you.
Today is the final chance to sign up for the Pollinator virtual residency. Tomorrow, I’m facilitating a reading group in Jane McCabe’s open studio at Fanshaw Projects. And this autumn, I’m launching Making a Buck Without Selling Out – a new professional practice course, in collaboration with Cristiana Bottigella. Also below: Artquest One-to-ones in August, and two upcoming courses – Art + Critique and Curating Contemporary Art. Continue reading Support Structures 🧰🐝→
📢 Artists’ Incomes Are in Freefall – Support the Campaign to Abolish the Minimum Income Floor👩🏾🏭
If you’re an artist, chances are you are also self-employed. You might have one or more PAYE jobs too, but what happens when your freelance income drops — or gets wiped out altogether?
Welcome back! I hope you feel recharged after a fantastic summer 🦜
Feverish preparations are underway for the upcoming Art+Critique course, which begins in a couple of weeks. The cohort is once again shaping up to be a fantastic group of artists and I’m bursting with anticipation Continue reading Practice🔧Theory⚡Critique→
The days are getting shorter, the evenings are cooler, and we’ll be spending more time indoors. I usually dread this time of year, but I’m looking forward to getting a lot of work done. At least that’s the plan. Invariably, something always blows my plans out of the water; overcommitting, unexpected workloads or crises, and burn out. But I’m learning to pace myself and take time off. Working longer hours doesn’t necessarily mean getting more done, in fact if you’re tired or stuck it’s better to take a break or even a nap. Continue reading September Update 🏮🍂→
Consultations are available to artists, curators, writers and others working in the arts, at any stage of their practice. The sessions provide tailored support, whether you’re developing your practice, tackling a specific project, or seeking ongoing mentorship.
These consultations are shaped by decades of teaching, organising and developing alternative and co-operative art education structures. My approach is informed by critical pedagogy and socially engaged practice, with attention to how class, access, language and institutional norms shape artistic trajectories. I aim to create a rigorous, critically engaged space for practitioners whose work or background may not sit comfortably within dominant frameworks.
What do the consultations offer?
Consultations are particularly useful if you are developing your practice or a new project, applying for a residency or course, preparing applications or academic writing, reaching a pivotal moment in your practice, grappling with contradictions, or seeking a critical framework to address your questions. I can assist with:
Developing your studio practice or preparing a portfolio
Articulating your practice and writing an artist’s statement
Writing proposals for exhibitions, residencies, funding applications and other open calls
Writing and reviewing essays, dissertations and other academic and creative writing formats
Promoting your art practice, finding opportunities and expanding your network
Building, expanding or reviewing your website, portfolio or online profile
Exhibition-making, curating, or working with galleries and curators/artists
Developing and managing a project, with workflow, timeline and budget
Conducting research, developing research questions and a literature review
Community organising, collaborations, collectives, peer mentoring and and support for self-organised groups
Self-publishing, limited editions, selling work, commissions, collaborations and partnerships
Who is it for?
These sessions benefit socially engaged artists, performance and installation artists, video and sound artists, media and digital artists, sculptors, painters, print-makers, designers, artist educators, curators, writers, researchers and anyone who is pursuing a career in the arts.
My areas of expertise
Contemporary art, studio practice, sculpture and installation, film-making and time-based media, socially-engaged practice, art and politics, theory and history of art, critical and contextual studies, postgraduate studies, PhD research, alternative art education, peer mentoring, self-organisation, collaboration, collectives, co-operatives, solidarity economy, curating and exhibition making, project management and organisation, conferences, workshops, festivals, film screenings, self-publishing, professional practice and general careers advice.
Consultation formats
FreeIntroductory Chat (15 min) To outline your current focus and explore how I might support you. We can clarify scope and identify the most appropriate session format.
Focused Session (60 min) Ideal for troubleshooting specific questions or planning a project, such as preparing an application. Alternatively, we can use this as an introductory session to explore your practice and requirements, and develop an action plan for ongoing mentorship.
Working Session (90 min) This extended session allows more time to think through complex questions, review work in depth, or connect different strands of your practice. Suited to application development, detailed discussion of writing, or mapping out a project with space for reflection and next steps.
Intensive Session (120 min) A deeper dive into your practice, writing, or project development. Together, we’ll unpack your ideas, review your practice or writing, and produce an action plan.
Booking
To request a consultation, complete the form below with your preferred format, availability and a brief outline of your focus.
Once submitted, you will receive a confirmation email with a copy of your responses. I’ll review your submission and confirm the date, time and location of your consultation.
Fees and terms
My consultation fee is £55/hour or £100 for a two hour session.
Each session includes up to 1 hour of preparation and/or feedback.
Additional preparation, reading or review is charged at £35/hour.
If the consultation fee is a barrier, please get in touch to discuss ways that we can make it more accessible for you.
Invoices are payable within one month of the issue date.
Cancellation policy
To cancel or reschedule, please reply to your confirmation email.
Cancellations made at least 48 hours in advance incur no charge.
Cancellations within 48 hours are subject to a £30 fee.
Non-attendance without notice is charged in full.
Booking form
If you have any questions please get in touch. I look forward to working with you and supporting your practice.
As we await the arrival of summer the pandemic appears to be at bay, but only by giving way to new fronts of crisis, disinformation, struggle and resistance. Artists have been particularly impacted in the last two years and still reeling as we emerge into the new dystopian normal, so you’re not alone. Book a free advice session with Artquest One to One to discuss your practice and plans for the future – new dates in late May and early June will be posted soon. Continue reading 📌 Artquest One to One 🍒 Art+Critique Summer 2022→
It’s been a long hard slog but things are starting to look up with the easing of restrictions and a potential end in sight for Covid. In the meantime, if you’re feeling stuck or want to hatch some plans sign up for a free advice session with Artquest Outpost Online. Continue reading 📢 Outpost Online & Art+Critique 🍒🚀→
The reader texts are organised chronologically for each lecture/seminar or workshop, and are available for download via the links below. Further reading and resources are not required reading/viewing; they are intended as a supplement to the reader and to support further research.
Allow 1-2 hours to familiarise yourself with the set reading in preparation for each seminar
Make notes of questions and comments that you want to address
Please make sure you have access to the set texts in print or on screen during sessions
In some cases you are requested to read an excerpt (note the page numbers)
Page numbers are the ones printed on the pages, not those displayed in your PDF reader
21 Oct 2. CREATIVE PRACTICE: PRACTICE & THEORY WORKSHOP
Duchamp, Marcel (1975/1957).The Creative Act. In The Essential Writings of Marcel Duchamp. London: Thames & Hudson, pp. 138-140. AUDIO
Further reading & resources
Barthes, Roland (1977/1969).The Death of the Author. In Image Music Text, Trans. Stephen Heath. London: Fontana, pp. 142-148.
Foucault, Michel (1977).What is an Author? In Language, Counter-Memory, Practice. Trans. Sherry Simon and Donald F. Bouchard ed. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 113-138.
Bergson, Henri (1911).Creative Evolution, trans Arthur Mitchell. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Deleuze, Gilles (2006/1987).What is the Creative Act? In Two Regimes of Madness, David Lapoujade ed. Trans Ames Hodges and Mike Taormina. Cambridge, MA: MIT/Semiotext(e).
Mouffe, Chantal (2008).Art and Democracy: Art as an Agonistic Intervention in Public Space. Open 14: Art as a Public Issue: How Art and Its Institutions Reinvent the Public Dimension, Liesbeth Melis and Jorinde Seijdel eds. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, Amsterdam: SKOR, pp. 6-15.
Ray, Gene (2014/2009).Towards a Critical Art Theory. In The Idea of the Avant Garde – And What It Means Today, Marc James Leger ed. Manchester University Press, pp. 131-137.
Davis, Ben (2016).Connoisseurship and Critique. e-flux Journal, Issue #72 (Apr 2016). Republished in Art in the After-Culture: Capitalist Crisis and Cultural Strategy (2022). Haymarket Books.
Foucault, Michel (2007/1979). What is Critique? In The Politics of Truth, intro John Rajchman, Sylvere Lotringer ed. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), pp. 41-81.
Piper, Adrian (2014).Political Art and the Paradigm of Innovation. In The Idea of the Avant Garde – And What It Means Today, Marc James Leger ed. Manchester University Press, pp. 4-11.
Manifesto Club (2006). Championing Artistic Autonomy. In Artquest 5 Years, Paul Glinkowski ed. London: Artquest, p. 3.
Further reading & resources
Adorno, Theodor and Brian O’Connor ed. (2000).The Autonomy of Art. In The Adorno Reader. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell, pp. 239-243.
Adorno, Theodor (2002/1970).Aesthetic Theory. Trans. Robert Hullot-Kentor. London: Continuum.
Benjamin, Walter (1998/1934).The Author as Producer. In Understanding Brecht. Trans Anna Bostock, intro. Stanley Mitchell. London: Verso, pp. 85-103.
Mouffe, Chantal (2001).Every Form of Art Has a Political Dimension. Chantal Mouffe interviewed by Rosalyn Deutsche, Branden W. Joseph and Thomas Keenan. Grey Room 02, Winter 2001, pp. 98-125.
Beuys, Joseph (1973).I Am Searching for Field Character. In Art into Society, Society into Art, Christos Joachimides and Norman Rosenthal ed. London: Institute of Contemporary Art, p. 48.
Kester, Grant H. (2023).Introduction. In The Sovereign Self: Aesthetic Autonomy from the Enlightenment to the Avant-Garde. Durham: Duke University Press, pp. 1-16.
Steyerl, Hito (2009).The Institution of Critique. In Art and Contemporary Critical Practice: Reinventing Institutional Critique. London: MayFlyBooks, pp. 13-19.
Athanasiou, Athena (2021/2016).Performing the Institution, ‘as if it were Possible’. In Former West: Art and the Contemporary After 1989, Maria Hlavajova and Simon Sheikh eds. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Republished in Instituting, New Alphabet School. Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Jun 2021).
Haiven, Max (2018).Art after money. Open Democracy (Oct 10, 2018).
Groys, Boris and Brian Dillon (2009).Who Do You Think You’re Talking To? Boris Groys in Conversation with Brian Dillon Frieze no. 121 (Mar 2009), pp. 126-131.
Goldstein, Mitch (2018). How to crit. howtocrit.com.
Leemann, Judith (2017).Pragmatics of Studio Critique. In Beyond Critique: Contemporary Art in Theory, Practice, and Instruction, Pamela Fraser and Roger Rothman ed. New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 181-194.
Kaprow, Allan (1996/1986).Art which can’t be art. In Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 219-222.
Kaprow, Allan (1993/1971).Education of the Un-Artist Part 1. In Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life, Jeff Kelley ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 97-109.
Barrett, Estelle (2007).Introduction: Art as the production of knowledge. In Practice as research: approaches to creative arts enquiry, Estelle Barrett and Barbara Bolt ed. London: I.B Tauris, pp.1-13.
Whiteley, Nigel, Rebecca Fortnum, Ian Heywood (2003).Visual Intelligence Research Project. Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University.
Morris, Robert (1968). Anti Form. Artforum 6, April 1968, pp. 33-37. Republished in Continuous Project Altered Daily: The Writings of Robert Morris (1995). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Bourriaud, Nicolas (2002). Introduction, Relational Form. In Relational Aesthetics. Dijon: Les presses du reel, pp. 7-24.
Beech, Dave (2008).Include me out! Art Monthly 315 (Apr 2008).
Nancy, Jean-Luc (1991/1986).The Inoperative Community. Trans Peter Connor, Lisa Garbus, Michael Holland and Simona Sawhney. Foreword Christopher Fynsk; Peter Connor ed. Minneapolis and Oxford: University of Minnesota Press.
Kenning, Dean (2010).Artist as Artist. Art Monthly 337 (Jun 2010), pp. 7-10.
Groys, Boris (2009).Comrades of Time. e-flux journal #11 (Dec 2009).
Very excited to launch a new course! It combines almost a year’s worth of critical studies lectures and seminars, group tutorials and workshops into one term so it’s going to be pretty intense. Designed during the transition from lockdown to whatever it is we have now, it tries to make up for some of the community, context, interaction, challenge, motivation, freedom and future horizons that we lost in the last six months.
A comprehensive bibliography for the Art + Critique lecture and seminar series. You can use it as a further reading list or to locate references that are not in the handouts, reader or further reading and resources. Please click the headings for a drop-down list.
CRITICAL & CONTEXTUAL STUDIES IN ART PRACTICE: ONLINE COURSE
Studio practice and critical studies course that integrates practice and theory in a comprehensive programme of lectures, seminars, workshops, off-site visits, tutorials, assignments, feedback and peer support.
The curriculum fosters experimentation and collaborative study in a community of peers. It provides a supportive environment where participants will extend their knowledge of critical theories and discourses, develop their ability to discuss, write about and judge contemporary art, and contextualise their own practice.
We visited Benedict Drew‘s exhibition The Trickle-Down Syndrome at the Whitechapel Gallery with students on the Critical Theory in Contemporary Art Practice course. The exhibition was a sprawling interconnected array of objects, banners, screens, cables and digital components. What is the Trickle-Down Syndrome? How does it relate to the infamous laissez faire economic theory? What are the throbbing fleshy forms and knobbly knotted represented in videos, banners and roughly-hewn objects? Continue reading The Trickle-Down Syndrome→
This course maps the theories and discourses that inform the production and reception of contemporary art, providing a supportive environment to develop your practice and articulate your ideas on the production, exhibition and interpretation of art.
This course explores histories, theories, practices and critiques of curating, enabling students to develop and establish their own critical understanding and approach to curating and contemporary art practice.
![Nalini Malani [2020] Can You Hear Me. Whitechapel Gallery, London. Screenshot of hybrid visit to the exhibition](https://videomole.tv/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Nalini-Malani-2020-Can-You-Hear-Me-Whitechapel-Gallery-London.-Screenshot-from-a-hybrid-visit-to-the-exhibition_5156.jpg)
Art + Critique
![Patrick Mimran [2004] Billboard Project, New York. Photo Sophia Kosmaoglou_banner2-l](https://videomole.tv/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Patrick-Mimran-2004-Billboard-Project-New-York.-Photo-Sophia-Kosmaoglou_banner2-l.jpg)
![Benedict Drew [2017] The Trickle-Down Syndrome. Installation view. Whitechapel Gallery, London. Photo Sophia Kosmaoglou.](https://videomole.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Benedict-Drew-2017-The-Trickle-Down-Syndrome.-Installation-view.-Whitechapel-Gallery-London.-Photo-Sophia-Kosmaoglou-01.jpg)
