Visual Artists Ireland is thrilled to publish the November-December 2023 special issue of The Visual Artists’ News Sheet. As recipient of the inaugural VAN Guest Editor Award 2023, London-based art critic and editor Orit Gat has developed a themed issue on the relationship between art and literature.
As stated by Orit in her editorial for this special issue, “The relationships of art and literature is a subject I have personally been engaging with for a long time […] But this theme was particularly inspired by the growth of the literary scene in Ireland, the amount of Irish fiction I’ve been reading, and my appreciation of the work of many Irish art and literary publications.”
This VAN special issue features a roundtable on publishing, in which Orit asks editors about the historic and contemporary forms, conditions and exchanges of the Irish publishing landscape. The columns for this issue are each short personal essays about the manifold ways in which a writing practice is formed. The feature articles touch on various subjects, including writing requirements in art schools, the representation of art in film, and a filmmaker’s new book. In addition, there are artist projects that show how artists relate to language and research, two poems about art and looking, and a short story about an artist who creates a monument to the victims of austerity. The Critique section focuses on exhibitions that relate in some way to literature, opera, science fiction, poetry, or historically important writers.
On The Cover
Shilpa Gupta, Words Come From Ears, 2018, Motion flapboard, 15-minute loop, 43 x 244 x 13 cm; photograph by Par Fredin, courtesy of the artist, Uppsala Art Museum, and the Henry Moore Institute.
Columns
- Editorial. VAN Guest Editor Orit Gat introduces this special issue on art and literature.
On Magic and Dullness. Laura McLean-Ferris considers the transformative power of writing to conjure iridescent realities.
- When Writers Socialise. Megan Nolan offers insights into New York’s literary and socialite scenes.
Stupidities. Brian Dillon outlines his approach when engaging with artists and their work.
- Until the Penny Drops. Wendy Erskine discusses writing, process, and makes an argument for polyphony.
Making Prosinečki. Adrian Duncan discusses his short story and subsequent fi lm which premiered earlier this year.
Writing & Art Practice
- Writing in Art School. Frank Wasser chronicles the standardisation of academic writing within art college education.
- On Close Scrutiny, Ritual and Reverence. Isobel Harbison interviews Sara Baume about the evolution of her writing practice.
Roundtable
- Roundtable on Publishing. Orit Gat interviews several editors about the Irish publishing landscape.
Poetry
- Chromatology. Mónica de la Torre assembles extracts of writing on colour in response to Donald Judd’s multicoloured works.
- The Day After Tragedy, Lunch Beneath Whistlejacket. Aea Varfi s-van Warmelo.
Critique
- Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay-Terk, La Prose du Trans sibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France (Paris: Éditions des hommes nouveaux, 1913)
- ‘Human Is’ at Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin.
- Nour Mobarak, ‘Dafne Phono’ at Municipal Theatre of Piraeus, Greece.
- ‘Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961): Poetry Is Everything’ at The Morgan Library & Museum, New York.
- ‘The Weight of Words’ at The Henry Moore Institute.
Extended Essay
- Eddie Murphy Walks into a Gallery. Orlando Whitfield on how no one understands the art world.
- Art of Relations. Quinn Latimer considers filmmaker, writer, and theorist Trinh T. Minh-ha’s latest artist book, The Twofold Commitment (Primary Information, 2023).
Artist Project
- Ages. Steve Bishop presents found photographs from an ongoing series.
- Score for Unlanguaging. Orit Gat introduces the work of Jesse Chun.
- The pagination of moments lost and found. Steven Emmanuel considers an old drawing that sits on his sideboard.
Prose
- The Monument. Juliet Jacques presents a short story about a memorial to the victims of austerity.
Comics
- In the Gutter. Chris Fite-Wassilak considers the successes and failures of comics in the gallery space.
