Please join The Writing Table in the Or Bookstore for a workshop with artist, writer and singer Lucien Durey. This two-part workshop will begin with an introduction to his writing practice which, in recent years, has encompassed songwriting, commentary and criticism. Durey will speak to the role of the visual artist as cultural commentator, drawing parallels between his writing and material practices in order to address concepts of responsibility. What are the conditions that motivate the production of a text, the position of its author, or the engagement of its audience? Must art writing be authoritative, scholarly, or concise? The latter portion of this workshop will engage in a series of playful gestures in defiance of the prescribed do’s and don’ts of art writing. Through a writing exercise, workshop participants will take a material approach to the written word by working within rigid parameters to generate necessarily inventive responses.

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The Writing Table is a series of arts-writing talks and workshops held in the Or Bookstore and dedicated to investigating the shifting relationship and potentialities between writing and visual art practice. The series brings together experienced arts writers as facilitators in a discussion and writing workshop aimed at cultivating new voices in arts writing, exploring alternative modes of writing about art, and examining writing as a vehicle and as a process for thinking about and producing art. From art criticism, to curatorial writing, to writing as artistic practice, the Writing Table considers the ways in which cogent and critically engaged writing plays a fundamental role in furthering arts discourse and in fostering community. The Writing Table is open to individuals from all backgrounds and experience levels, from recent graduates to writers working in other fields who are interested in the visual arts.

Programmed by Weiyi Chang. Weiyi’s curatorial residency is supported by the Early Career Development Program funded by the BC Arts Council.