23.5.2025, Friday 11:00 – 15:00 Uhr
Finding Your Voice: A Writing Workshop for Artists, Chloe Stead

Venue:
Raum 11, Lerchenfeld 2

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*Microcredential

Many artists wish their work could "speak for itself" and often feel uneasy about writing or speaking about their practice. However, in today’s art world, there are countless moments when artists must put their thoughts into words—whether for grant applications, residencies, exhibitions, or public talks. These tasks can feel overwhelming: What to emphasize? How to find the right tone?

This is where the workshop led by HFBK graduate and frieze associate editor Chloe Stead comes in. Designed to demystify the process, the workshop equips participants with practical skills to approach writing with confidence and clarity. Through exploring various text types, such as artist statements, bios, and applications, participants will learn to critically assess what works well and what doesn’t. Beyond the external demands of writing, this workshop will highlight how writing can serve as a tool for deeper self-reflection, helping artists better understand their own practice. Writing, too, can be an act of generosity, offering essential context to audiences unfamiliar with contemporary art. By developing their own voice in writing, participants will gain control over how their work is presented and understood, ensuring that their vision reaches both specialist and non-specialist audiences alike.

On request, Chloe will allocate individual time slots following the successful completion of the workshop in which online feedback can be given on the written texts revised on the basis of the newly acquired knowledge.
Chloe Stead graduated from HFBK in 2014 and now works as a Berlin-based art critic and associate editor of frieze. Her writing has appeared in publications such as Artnet, frieze, Mousse and Spike Art Magazine. She also regularly contributes to artist monographs and has taken part in or moderated talks at Damien & the Love Guru, Brussels; Vienna Contemporary; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin; Kunstverein Hamburger Bahnhof, Hamburg; and Migros Museum, Zurich.

Registration (for max. 15 participants) from May 2, 2025 here.
This workshop is aimed at HFBK students in their final year and graduates up to 5 years after graduation.

Übers Schreiben reden am 15. April 2025 mit Saša Stanišić, Akın Emanuel Şipal, moderiert von Viktorie Knotková; photo: Jana Rothe

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View into the auditorium of HFBK Hamburg; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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Opening of the Graduate Show 2025; photo: Sinje Hasheider

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Pablo Torres Gómez, Earths's Ears, 2025; photo: Pablo Torres Gómez

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Maria Ignatenko, false movements, 2024, work in progress; Filmstill

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The cinema in the new film house, Finkenau 42; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Open Call: Redesign Democracy - Reimagine Voting; graphic design: Konrad Renner

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Park Ficiton, Palmen Feliz Nedra, 2003; photo: Margit Czenki/Park Fiction

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Blick in die von Nadine Droste kuratierte Ausstellung von Master-Studierenden im ICAT der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2024 (im Vordergrund die Arbeit von Paula Hoffmann und Laura Mahnke); photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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Many people stand in front of a wall with portrait photographs

Work by Atu Gelovani at the opening of the Annual Exhibition 2025 at HFBK Hamburg; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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A sculpture of a small elephant that functions as a climbing frame in a park in Hamburg

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Exhibition view on the occasion of Hiscox Art Prize 2024; photo: Tim Albrecht

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The cinema in the new film house, Finkenau 42; photo: Tim Albrecht

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"The New Woman - How Female Artists and Designers shaped the Image of Modernism", graphic by Liudmila Savelyeva, Karla Krey, Amira Mostafa (Klasse Digitale Grafik)

The New Woman

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Detail: Installation by Mark Morris; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Julia Scher, Territorium, 2024, installationview at ICAT of HFBK Hamburg; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Sharon Poliakine, Untitled, 2023, oil on canvas, detail

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Work by Franziska Koepsel at Annual Exhibition 2024; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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photo: Tim Albrecht

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photo: Miriam Schmidt / HFBK

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A disguised man with sunglasses holds a star-shaped sign for the camera. It says "Suckle". The picture is taken in black and white.

photo: Honey-Suckle Company

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Jahresausstellung 2023, Arbeit von Toni Mosebach / Nora Strömer; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

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Non-Knowledge, Laughter and the Moving Image, Grafik: Leon Lothschütz

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Amna Elhassan, Tea Lady, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

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Merlin Reichert, Die Alltäglichkeit des Untergangs, Installation in der Galerie der HFBK; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Grafik: Nele Willert, Dennise Salinas

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Renée Green. ED/HF, 2017. Film still. Courtesy of the artist, Free Agent Media, Bortolami Gallery, New York, and Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin/Cologne/Munich.

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Amanda F. Koch-Nielsen, Motherslugger; photo: Lukas Engelhardt

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New studio in the row of houses at Lerchenfeld, in the background the building of Fritz Schumacher; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Martha Szymkowiak / Emilia Bongilaj, Installation “Mmh”; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Annette Wehrmann, photography from the series Blumensprengungen, 1991-95; photo: Ort des Gegen e.V., VG-Bild Kunst Bonn

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23 Fragen des Institutional Questionaire, grafisch umgesetzt von Ran Altamirano auf den Türgläsern der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2021; photo: Charlotte Spiegelfeld

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ASA Open Studio 2019, Karolinenstraße 2a, Haus 5; photo: Matthew Muir

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Studiengruppe Prof. Dr. Anja Steidinger, Was animiert uns?, 2021, Mediathek der HFBK Hamburg, Filmstill

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Ausstellungsansicht "Schule der Folgenlosigkeit. Übungen für ein anderes Leben" im Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg; photo: Maximilian Schwarzmann

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Katja Pilipenko

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Alltagsrealität oder Klischee?; photo: Tim Albrecht

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Ausstellung Social Design, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Teilansicht; photo: MKG Hamburg

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