Art Museum

Writing with Art: Workshops with Lee Weng Choy

Lee Weng Choy

Writing with Art is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in workshops with acclaimed Kuala Lumpur-based art critic Lee Weng Choy. This project has been developed as part of UQ Art Museum's
creative program, Unlearning.

Workshop 1
Art, writing and social media
Applications close Monday 29 July, 5:00pm​

This two-day workshop focuses on discussing artworks in a gallery setting, workshopping approaches to art writing, producing writing for social media platforms, and engaging in collaborative writing exercises. 

Workshop 2
Writing workshops as creative practice
Applications closed

This workshop is suitable for more experienced writers who will work together to create a publication. The focus is less on producing texts about art, than on writing with art through exploring art contexts as prompts to produce creative reflection and expression. 

Both workshops are free and open to the public. UQ students are especially encouraged to apply.

Apply and see more details below. 

Art, writing and social media

Suitable for: self-identified ‘beginners’; those interested in looking at art; those wanting to learn new skills in creative written expression; UQ undergrad or postgrad students in any discipline.

Description: This two-part workshop will introduce participants to writing with art in the context of UQ Art Museum’s current creative program. The focus is less on producing the kinds of texts about artworks and artists that one usually finds in art history and criticism, than on exploring art contexts as prompts to produce creative reflection and expression. Participants can expect to: discuss artworks in a gallery setting, workshop approaches to art writing, produce writing for social media platforms, and engage in collaborative writing exercises. 

Writing workshops as creative practice

Suitable for: more experienced writers looking to experiment with writing as collaborative practice. Third-year, Honours or Postgrad students in the Humanities (Art History, Creative Writing, Communications) are encouraged to apply.  

Description: This is an intensive workshop that will result in a short turn-around publication to be decided by the group. You MUST be available to take all workshop sessions in 2019 (dates and times listed below), and be able to devote time to do a lot of writing and rewriting for the workshop. The workshops will take place in the context of UQ Art Museum’s current creative program and in response to the artworks on display. The focus is less on producing the kinds of texts about artworks and artists that one usually finds in art history and criticism, than on writing with art through exploring art contexts as prompts to produce creative reflection and expression.

Participants can expect to: develop their capabilities to talk about their writing, to engage with feedback, and to listen to discussions about other participants’ writing — this last point is important. If writing is a kind of conversation, then listening, not speaking, is perhaps the most important part of the process. And you learn to listen when you learn to step outside yourself.

Dates: 

  • Early July (date/time TBC): 1 x 20 min introductory Skype meeting with Lee Weng Choy. At this meeting a short writing task will be given, to be discussed at the first workshop meeting in August.
  • 21 August, 10:00am  – 4:00pm: Workshop Group Meeting 1
  • 12–15 November, 10:00am  – 4:00pm daily: Workshop Group Meetings 2–5
  • Early 2020: group meetings to be decided
  • Applications closed

Lee Weng-Choy is an independent art critic and consultant based in Kuala Lumpur. He is also the president of the Singapore Section of the International Association of Art Critics. Previously, Lee was Artistic Co-Director of The Substation in Singapore, and has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Sotheby’s Institute of Art — Singapore. He has done project work with various arts organisations, including Ilham Gallery and A+ Works of Art, both in Kuala Lumpur, and the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, and National Gallery Singapore. Lee writes on contemporary art and culture in Southeast Asia, and his essays have appeared in journals such as Afterall, and anthologies such as Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture, and Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985.