A deep dive into Vienna’s creative scene

Art Writing Workshop with Amy Sherlock, in collaboration with Art Basel

In December 2025, Phileas hosted a four-day Art Writing workshop, led by writer and editor Amy Sherlock. The programme brought together eight emerging writers selected through an open call.

Over the course of the workshop, participants engaged in writing exercises, editorial discussions and feedback sessions, alongside studio visits with Vienna-based artists. These encounters formed the basis for a series of short-form profiles, each developed through close editorial exchange. The resulting texts are published on Art Basel's Stories.

The 2025 participants were:

Dóra Filó
Jess Lukawska
Kai Philip Trausenegger
Laura Schreiner
Lauren Turton
Lukas Frank
Olesia Shuvarikova
Valentina Schatzer

The programme reflects Phileas’ ongoing commitment to supporting critical discourse and fostering emerging voices in art writing.

The profiles focus on a selection of Vienna-based artists – Erwin Bohatsch, Tatjana Danneberg, Jojo Gronostay, Irina Lotarevich, Lazar Lyutakov, Alex Macedo, Ursula Mayer, and Antoinette Zwirchmayr – whose practices reflect the breadth and complexity of the city’s contemporary art scene. Vienna continues to be shaped by a dynamic interplay between conceptual traditions and contemporary approaches, where established positions and younger practices coexist.

The publication of these texts coincides with Kunsthalle Wien’s exhibition Lebt und arbeitet in Wien: Contemporary Art from Vienna, a major survey highlighting the vitality of the local art scene.

Read the full article and the artists’ profiles here.