Writing Never Written: 2023 Art Writing Symposium

When we talk about writing in and for the Arts, we rarely consider the content that never gets written. Inspired by the book, Photographs Never Taken, a compelling collection of short essays by photographers who retell the stories that underlie the images they never made, this one-day symposium considers the wide variety of reasons that underscore art writing never written. From content perceived to be too political, to geographies that are under-represented, to media and artists that continually receive short-shrift, the presenters at this year’s Art Writing Symposium embody an interdisciplinary approach to exploring modes of writing in and for the Arts from the perspective of arts administration, art history, curatorial studies, art studio, journalism, dance, science, creative writing, and beyond. 

Program Schedule
9:00               Doors open with coffee

9:30-9:45       Greetings and Introduction
                       Colin Robertson and Brett M. Van Hoesen
9:45-10:30     Introductory Alumni Keynote
                       Jeannette Martinez
                       Finding Terruño: Landscape, Memory-making,
                       and Belonging
                       Moderator: Brett M. Van Hoesen
10:30-10:45   Break
10:45-12:15   Panel 1 – The Politics of Art Writing Across
                      Cultures and Geographies
                       Emily Hobson
                       The AIDS Quilt in Prison: Care Work in and
                       against the Carceral State
                       Juan Carlos Guerrero Hernández
                       The Woman, the Migrant, and the Cyborg in In-
                       Pulse
                       Chris Lanier
                       Comics Genre and Graphic Invisibility: Alex
                       Niño’s Innovations in the Margins
                       Moderator: Kelly Chorpening
12:15-1:15      Box Lunch
                       *included in program cost
1:15-2:00        Reading by Visiting Author
                        Cathy Linh Che
                        Moderator: June Sylvester Saraceno
2:00-2:15       Break
2:15-3:45       Panel 2 – On Communication and Translation In
                       Writing Across the Arts & Media
                      Rosie Trump
                      Blank Space: Looking at Notorious Dance
                      Reviews
                      Jared Stanley
                      The Dream of Stopping
                      Fil Corbitt
                      “The Wind” (Live)
                      Kelly Chorpening and Adam Csank
                      The Hybrid Space of Annotated Drawings
                      Moderator: Colin Robertson
4:00-4:15      Break
4:15-5:15      Finalé Keynote
                      Maria Elena Buszek
                      Toward a Scholarship of Risk
                      Moderator: Sudeep Chandra
5-6pm           Reception

This event was made possible by generous funding from the Bruno and Edna Benna Endowment for Excellence in the Fine Arts at the University of Nevada, Reno. Special thanks for additional funding and support from the Nevada Museum of Art, the University’s Department of Art, Art History & Design and the Ozmen Institute for Global Studies as well as the Writers in the Woods Program at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.

Image Credit:

David Maisel, Terminal Mirage 18, 2003/2007, Dye coupler print, 48 x 48 inches. Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, The Altered Landscape, Carol Franc Buck Collection © David Maisel