Organisers of the TSA Art Writing Master Class, an intensive programme designed for art writers and journalists with keen interest in advancing their craft of art writing have extended the deadline for application to September 14. The application, which opened on August 6, was originally to close on September 7.
The organisers said the extension was “based on persistent requests to open up the workshop participation and application deadline”. Hence, they have also expanded the scope of participants
to include all interested final year undergraduates, fresh graduates, curatorial scholars, art &
culture bloggers, and aspiring young writers seeking to learn or improve their knowledge of art criticism.
“Set up to drive interactions between accomplished art professionals and a new generation of art writers, and to redirect critical thinking and writing in the West African art scenes, distinguished and active international art historians, writers and critics working in the academic, curatorial and media fields of art, mostly of African descent but with a broad and in-depth knowledge of art across different cultures and societies, will be invited to lead the master class,” said a statement by the organisers.
All intending applicants can find more details at http://www.thesoleadventurer.com/projects.
Each session will run for five days and with a group of 15 participants.
The first master class, scheduled to take place from Tuesday, 30th October – Saturday, 3rd November 2018, will be led by renowned Princeton University Professor of Art History, Chika Okeke-Agulu.
“It is envisioned to be productive, creative, supportive and intense. Participants will be guided through a mastery of cognitive and linguistic elements in art writing. There will be writing exercises, reviews of specific artworks and artists, visits to selected exhibitions showing in Lagos at this time and a final writing project that will be considered for publishing in notable print and online publications. Outstanding participants will have opportunities such as nominations for international residencies,” said the organisers.
Only selected applicants will be notified and required to pay a participation fee of N35,000 by October 22. A grant, which covers only the participation fee, is available for one to two exceptional applications.
Deserving applicant(s) will be notified during the selection phase in mid-September.
Participants are however responsible for their own travel, accommodation and boarding arrangements during the workshop in Lagos. TSA will provide assistance in the form of information and advice on available accommodation/boarding facilities to participants from outside Nigeria.
TSA Art Writing Master Class is organised by TSA Cultural Foundation in partnership with Goethe-Institut, Nigeria.
Okeke-Agulu is an artist, curator, critic and art historian. He is Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, and specialises in classical, modern, and contemporary African and African Diaspora art history and theory.
He previously taught at The Pennsylvania State University, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. He began his career in Lagos as an art critic for the newspapers African
Concord, Daily Times and Guardian.
He is the author of Obiora Udechukwu: Line, Image, Text (Skira Editore, 2016); Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria (Duke, 2015); and (with Okwui Enwezor), Contemporary African Art Since 1980 (Damiani, 2010). He is co-editor of Ezumeezu: Essays on
Contemporary Art and Architecture, a festschrift in Honour of Demas Nwoko (Goldline & Jacobs, 2012); and Who Knows Tomorrow (König, 2010).
In 2006, he edited the first ever issue of African Arts dedicated to African Modernism, and his writings have appeared in African Arts, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Internationalism, Artforum International, New York Times, Packett, Art Journal, South Atlantic Quarterly and October. He is co-editor of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art and maintains the blog Ọfọdunka.
