Art Writing workshop with Amy Sherlock in collaboration with Art Basel

Phileas, Opernring 17, 1010 Vienna
4–7 December 2025

Can you capture an artist’s depth and vision – in just a few hundred words? It's a challenge familiar to every art writer: how to introduce wide-ranging and complex artistic practices to different audiences without losing nuance.

From 4 to 7 December 2025, Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, together with writer and editor Amy Sherlock, held a four-day, free-to-attend workshop designed to address exactly this challenge.

The programme focused on short-form profiles of Vienna-based artists, developed through a series of workshops and studio visits. It combined practical guidance with real-world publishing experience. The resulting texts will appear on Art Basel's widely read Stories digital magazine.

Eight emerging journalists, authors, and art critics based in Austria took part in the workshop. Conducted in English, the programme covered all participant expenses, including travel, food, and accommodation for those based outside Vienna.

The workshop took place at Opernring 17, 1010 Vienna, with full in-person attendance throughout. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

Two weeks prior to the workshop, participants were assigned an artist living and working in Vienna, allowing time for research in advance. During the programme, they met their assigned artists and visited their studios.

• Workshop schedule

  Thursday 4 December
  Understanding the brief: different types of art writing, tone, purpose, and critical voice

  Friday 5 December
  The necessary skills: interview techniques, tips for concision, opening sentences, and important points

  Saturday 6 December
  Studio visits and writing day (no scheduled workshop)

  Sunday 7 December
  Group crit of draft texts

  Following the four-day workshop, texts will be edited by Amy Sherlock (in dialogue with each workshop participant) to prepare them for Art Basel’s Stories magazine and will be published in Spring 2026.

• Workshop leader: Amy Sherlock

  Amy Sherlock (born 1987 in Manchester) is a writer, editor, and consultant based in London, UK. She began her career at Frieze, where she held various positions over the course of ten years, serving as deputy editor of the magazine from 2016 to 2021. An experienced writer and editor, she has contributed to and worked on a range of publications in both capacities, including as a features editor at Condé Nast and contributor to the arts pages of the Financial Times. At Frieze, she developed public programming initiatives including Frieze Academy and its annual Art & Architectureconference, and she initiated Frieze New Writers, an ongoing programme supporting early-career critics from underrepresented backgrounds. Since 2019, Amy has worked as a freelance strategist, contributing to the rebranding of several UK-based arts organisations and advising on vision, positioning, and communications. In 2024, she joined Avance, a strategy consultancy supporting contemporary visual artists across all aspects of their careers. At Avance, she works on content and communication strategy, gallery and institutional outreach, and the development of new narratives and networks for artists and their work.

• Further reading

  Stories is Art Basel’s digital magazine. Publishing daily, it covers all aspects of the art world, from artist profiles to interviews with collectors, and curators. See more at artbasel.com/stories

Art Writing workshop at Phileas, December 2025. Photo: Lea Sonderegger