CV
Laura Robertson: art critic, editor, lecturer.
Represented by United Agents, London.
B. 1983, Liverpool, UK.
Contact details
Email: laura[at]thedoublenegative.co.uk
Telephone: +44(0)7854697434
Website: laurarobertsoniswriting.cargo.site
Twitter: @doublenegativeL
Summary
I am an experienced art critic, with specific interest in blending experimental and subjective writing with journalism. For the past twelve years, I’ve developed an ambitious portfolio career, concurrently teaching, writing and editing.
I am a guest tutor at a wide range of Higher Education Institutions (including at Central Saint Martins, Liverpool John Moores University), and I mentor young people and adults across industry (including for Arts Emergency, Finnish Art Agency, Paper Gallery). I am a widely published writer with bylines in major international publications (including frieze, ArtReview, Art Monthly), as well as independent press. I have been a regular guest critic on the popular British culture show BBC Radio 4 Front Row since 2018. Represented by United Agents, London's leading literary and talent agency, I am currently writing a creative non-fiction book about night terrors, grief and contemporary art.
As a result, I have an astute understanding of international art practices, histories, theories and contexts, and excellent professional networks. I am a highly organised, reliable and personable colleague; I listen to, collaborate with and support my peers and students.
An important part of my current role as Lecturer in BA Photography at the University of Bolton is to challenge the canon, through criticism and contemporary debate. It is, indisputably, a socially inclusive university: 98% of our full-time students are from state schools; 90% identify as BAME; 86% have a registered disability. I am preparing my cohort for sustainable careers across arts and commercial practice; encouraging confidence and aspiration in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers. Widening participation is highly important to me, as is compassion-led teaching.
Education
· 2018-2020: MA Writing, School of Arts & Humanities, Royal College of Art, London
· 2005-2008: BA Visual Arts (1:1), School of Arts & Media, University of Salford, Greater Manchester
Selected Employment:
Sep 2021-Present: Lecturer, BA Photography, School of the Arts, University of Bolton, Greater Manchester
o Part of a new staff hire and new syllabus at this small, darkroom-specialist department
o Personal Academic Tutor for Level 4 (academic and pastoral support)
o Developing networks across community, education and industry; forming a graduate mentoring scheme accessible to Level 6 undergraduates across the School of Art
o Modules include Pre, Present, Post Photography (L4: theoretical knowledge, historical context and critical reflection in relation to semiotics, iconography and image authorship); Editorial Photography (L4: magazine production: visual strategies and editing skills to create believable editorial images and stories); Research and Context in Photography (L5: to develop conceptual thinking within historical and contemporary photographic discourse); Explorations (L5: understandingphotographic authorship through writing and exhibition-making); Enterprise and Industry in Context (L5: professional practice in global industry, individual pathways and work experience); Applied Critical Thinking in Photography (L6: final major photographic research and writing project); Consolidation and Display (L6: final research and visual practice for degree show presentation)Oct 2016-2021: Lecturer, BA Fine Art, School of Arts & Media, University of Salford, Greater Manchester
Selected Freelance:
· Dec 2011-Present: Co-founder and Co-editor, The Double Negative arts and culture magazine, Liverpool
· Jun 2023: Guest Tutor, MA Fine Art Digital, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
· Jun 2023: Guest Critic (review of Liverpool Biennial), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
· Feb 2023: Guest Tutor, BA Fine Art, University of Central Lancashire
· Jan 2023: Guest Tutor, MA Writing, School of Arts & Humanities, Royal College of Art, London
· Nov 2022: Writer (feature, What’s Next For England’s Cultural Institutions After Major Funding Changes?), frieze
· Nov 2022: Presenter (report on Signal Film & Media), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
· Nov 2022: Guest Tutor, BA History of Art, Liverpool John Moores University
· Oct 2022: Guest Critic (review of Turner Prize), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
· May 2022: Guest Critic (review of Tate’s Radical Landscapes), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
· Apr 2022: Guest Critic (review of Turner Prize shortlist), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
· Oct 2021: Writer (essay, A Mole Catcher’s Story), DocFest Exchange, Sheffield DocFest 2021
· Aug 2021-Present: Commissioning Editor (Online), IOU Theatre, Halifax
· Jan-Dec 2021: Mentor, Arts Emergency, Registered Charity Number 1152377
· Sep 2020-July 2021: Editor, Producer and Mentor, First Light Graduate Photography Programme, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, and Waterside Trafford, Greater Manchester
Books:
· 2021: First Light: Photography Writing Now (paperback, 64 pages), Open Eye Gallery/Waterside Trafford
· 2019: Attention Anthology (paperback, 95 pages), Royal College of Art, ISBN 9781910642450
· 2019: NOIT – 5: bodies as in buildings (paperback, 324 pages), Royal College of Art/Flat Time House
· 2019: Present Tense: A decade since Liverpool EU Capital of Culture… What now? (paperback, 96 pages), The Double Negative, ISBN 9781527242814
· 2016: On Being Curious: New Critical Writing on Contemporary Art From the North-West of England (paperback, 68 pages), The Double Negative, ISBN 9781526202376
· 2016: Conscious Coupling, The Double Negative/The Royal Standard Writing Residency Zine
· 2012: The Designist: Liverpool's Must-see for the Design Obsessed (paperback, 64 pages with fold-out map), Smiling Wolf Press, ISBN 9780956099921
Residencies:
· 2019-20: Writer-in-Residence, Flat Time House, London
· 2018-Present: Critical Writer-in-Residence, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool
· 2014: Writer-in-Residence, FACT Liverpool
Selected Exhibitions:
· Dec 2020-Mar 2021: Exhibitor, Tell It Like It Is (Gallery 3), part of L— A City Through Its People, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool
· Jul 2018-Feb 2019: Exhibitor, Six Memos, Sala Municipal de Exposiciones del Museo de la Pasión, Valladolid, Spain, Galeria Labyrint, Lublin, Poland, and St Georges Hall, Liverpool
· Jun-Jul 2015: Curator, LIV-BCN Festival, Bau University, Barcelona, and the Exhibition Research Centre, Liverpool John Moores University
· Jun-Aug 2012: Curator, The Spectacle of the Lost, Victoria Gallery & Museum, Liverpool
· Sept-Oct 2010: Co-curator, Hierarchies of Allegiance, The Royal Standard, Liverpool
· May 2010: Co-curator, No Soul For Sale – a Festival of Independents (The Royal Standard), Tate Modern, London
· Apr-May 2010: Co-curator, Bad Igloo Lust, Co-Curator, The Royal Standard, Liverpool
Contact Laura Robertson:
To discuss hiring me (for writing or editing commissions, guest lectures, mentoring, visiting studios, running classes/workshops, etc.), do get in touch. I’m happy to discuss approaches, rates and availability:
︎︎︎ laura[at]thedoublenegative[dot]co[dot]uk
︎ +44(0)7854697434
Read my indie arts and culture magazine, co-founded with arts writer Mike Pinnington in 2011:
︎︎︎ www.thedoublenegative.co.uk
Tweet tweet:
︎︎︎ @doublenegativeL
Buy me a coffee ☕️️ :
︎︎︎ www.buymeacoffee.com/laurarobbo