Somerset House Studios
26 April 2023, 11am – 4pm
Led by Bella Marrin and Elaine Tam
The realm of studio work and the spaces of reading and writing often follow different logics; across a two-part workshop we will explore this discordance and consider how writing might bedeployed as a medium or tool to energise studio practice and en/counter creative blocks. Alllevels of experience are welcome: writers or artists, blocked or otherwise, emerging or established, and anyone who feels they would like to write but is unsure of how to start.
Session 1, 11am–1pm
Performative Writing
As part of this session exploring techniques of place-based writing we will follow a shortroute around Somerset House. Whilst walking we will consider how acts of mapping andmark-making also involve poetry and the performative, inviting participants to explore andenvisage techniques of notation between writing and drawing. We will consider key texts andvisual references as departure points, looking at methods such as concrete poetry,psychogeography and frottage. Participants will be encouraged to experiment andcollaborate by selecting between short and informal writing exercises with a focus onprocess rather than outcomes.
Session 2, 2–4pm
Practical Writing
In this session we will apply the creative outcomes of the previous session to practicalwriting requirements – artist statements, bios, press releases and funding applications. Together, we will discuss and differentiate poetics and precision from flattened,institutionalised artspeak, in the interest of creating purposeful writing that retains meaning and relevance.
