Taster Workshop:
A Little more than Art Writing…
In this interactive three-part online workshop, three dynamic art writers come together to share how they have turned personal passions into distinct, expanded critical practices—and to invite you into the conversation.
The three speakers will show us that writing about art takes many vibrant forms. Yulia Yarkova pairs photography with witty, sharp observational notes to document Hong Kong’s exhibition scene on social media. Rachel Ip brings art and culture into everyday public discourse through her longstanding work as a columnist and contributor for Hong Kong newspapers and magazines and beyond. Mary Lee took her devotion to text across borders, establishing a bookspace in Germany dedicated to books from Hong Kong and Asia alongside cultural programming.
For all three, art writing is never a mere surface description of works on display. It is a live, creative practice combining text, images, and even community building to express acute observation and sharp critical reflection.
Taking place online across three consecutive Tuesday evenings, these participatory sessions are designed as an encouraging space to ask questions, share perspectives, and discover your own voice. Whether you are taking your very first step or looking for new inspiration, no prior background in art history or professional writing is required—just bring your curiosity!
1/12 – Yulia Yarkova*
8/12 – Rachel Ip: The Meaning, Function, and Role of Art Writing
15/12 – Mary Lee
*This session will be conducted in English with a limited number of in-person seats available. If you would like to reserve an in-person seat, please indicate your preference on the registration form.
1/12 – Yulia Yarkova: Unavoidable criticism
Art criticism can begin before any word has been written: the way the exhibition is presented visually, what was highlighted in the photographs, and what was omitted create a certain narrative. Even arranging installation shots in a specific order can play an important role and support certain parts of the text, changing the emphasis or shifting perspective.
Using her experience as a visual storyteller, Yulia Yarkova will share her observations on the use of exhibition photography and how it corresponds with art writing across different platforms. | |
With a background in design and art history, Yulia started her art blog as something she would find useful for herself. More than eight years of continuous gallery-going grew into a website, a weekly newsletter, and, most recently, a curated exhibition. Having created a niche between an art journalist and a KOL, Yulia continues to cover the majority of art exhibitions in Hong Kong, whether they are presented by museums, commercial galleries, auction houses, or independent art spaces.
8/12 – Rachel Ip: The Meaning, Function, and Role of Art Writing
Navigating across diverse platforms, what distinct possibilities does each medium offer? When addressing different readerships, how many ways can art truly be written?
Drawing from her cross-media writing experience, Rachel Ip will share how she uncovers compelling topics, finds intriguing entry points, and adapts her writing to resonate with varied platforms and audiences. She will also explore how to leverage diverse channels to bring art beyond specialized circles, connect it with broader publics, and transform writing into an active form of artistic practice. | |
Visual artist, art educator, curator, and art columnist. Starting out by pure chance as a columnist for the pop-culture magazine Milk, Rachel never expected that alongside making art, writing would actually become part of her livelihood. From contributing to publications like Milk, City Magazine, Echoing, and Ming Pao, to authoring the 26-part A–Z Art Dictionary series and launching Milkulture on Instagram, she recently stepped into the ultra-niche world of international arts press—traveling globally for exhibition previews and unexpectedly unlocking a whole new doorway into the art world.
15/12 – Mary Lee: The Critic as Artist: Art Criticism as an Act of Creation
Speaking from the perspective of an arts and cultural practitioner who has long navigated between the written word and the visual arts, art criticism for Mary Lee is less a functional discipline—a mere adjunct to the creative process—and more an artistic endeavour in its own right, with text as its medium. A translator of art writings, Lee’s own writing is occasionally published and commissioned. Lee will share how her recent writing practice has emerged from her time living in Europe, where—by comparing the art and cultural landscapes of the West and Hong Kong—she has sought to explore how one might respond to art and the world through a more fluid perspective and form. | |
Writer, translator, editor, art and cultural practitioner currently based between Hong Kong and Berlin. Lee has worked at Asia Art Archive and managed the alternative art space ‘Things that can happen’, in addition to initiating and collaborating in numerous independent publishing and curatorial projects, including the photobook and exhibition 80±: post-80s in the eyes of post-80s (2010), BERTY (2013, in collaboration with Angela Su), Dark Fluid: A Science Fiction Experiment by Angela Su (2017, in collaboration with Angela Su). Through these projects, Lee pursues a personal art/writing practice that responds to the world and society today. Her writings have been published in the Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook, P-articles, Daoju, Mingpao, and various other platforms. Lee’s recent bookshop project ‘encounters’ (2023–) aims at bringing forth encounters and conversations in various forms across cultures through book practices, events and happenings. The encounters bookspace opened in Berlin in August 2025.
