CV
Laura Robertson: art critic, editor, lecturer.
B. 1983, Liverpool, UK.
Contact:
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 contemporary art, storytelling and journalism. For the past twelve years, I’ve developed an ambitious portfolio career, concurrently writing, editing, teaching.
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/Qualifications:
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2018-2020: Masters of Arts, MA Writing (240 credits), School of Arts & Humanities, Royal College of Art, London
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2005-2008: BA Visual
Arts (1:1), School of Arts & Media, University of Salford, Greater
Manchester
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2004-2005: Foundation Diploma, School of
Arts & Media, University of Salford, Greater Manchester
Selected Employment:
- Sep 2024-Present: Lecturer in Contextual Studies, BA (Hons) Fashion & Communications, Liverpool John Moores University
- Sep 2021-Present: Lecturer in Photography Theory,
BA
(Hons) Photography, BA (Hons) Photojournalism & Documentary Photography,
Foundation, School of
the Arts, University
of Bolton, Greater Manchester
- Oct 2016-2021: Lecturer, BA Fine Art, School of Arts
& Media, University of Salford, Greater Manchester
- Dec 2011-Present: Co-founder, Co-editor, The Double Negative arts and culture magazine, Liverpool
Selected Freelance:
- Sep 2024: Live reading, Susan Gunn: Ground Evolution launch, Factory International, Manchester
- Jun 2024: Guest Speaker, MA Writing/MA Painting, School of Arts & Humanities,
Royal College of Art, London
- May 2024: Judge, Liverpool Sculpture Prize
- Apr 2023: Tutor, writing workshop for Finnish Painters Society: Growing the story of your art practice
- Dec 2023: Consultant Critic, for artist Kreetta Järvenpää, Finnish Art Agency, Kouvola, Lahti and Helsinki
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Sep 2023-Present: Mentor, Professional Art Writing
Development Scheme For Underrepresented Writers With PAPER Gallery/The
Fourdrinier, Manchester
- Aug 2023: Guest, Confidants Podcast, Finnish Art Agency, Helsinki
- Aug 2023: Artist Mentor, Finnish Art Agency, Helsinki
- Jun 2023: Guest Tutor, MA Fine Art Digital, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
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Jun 2023: Guest Critic (review of Liverpool
Biennial), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
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Feb 2023: Guest Tutor, BA Fine Art, University of Central Lancashire
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Jan 2023: Guest Tutor, MA Writing, School of Arts & Humanities,
Royal College of Art, London
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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
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Nov 2022: Guest Tutor, BA History of Art, Liverpool John Moores University
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Oct 2022: Guest Critic (review of Turner Prize), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
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May 2022: Guest Critic (review of Tate’s Radical
Landscapes), Front Row, BBC Radio 4
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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 (see Publishing page for more):
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2021: First
Light: Photography Writing Now (paperback,
64 pages), Open Eye Gallery/Waterside Trafford
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2019: Attention
Anthology (paperback, 95 pages), Royal College of Art, ISBN
9781910642450
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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
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2016: On
Being Curious: New Critical Writing on Contemporary Art From the North-West of
England (paperback, 68 pages), The Double Negative, ISBN
9781526202376
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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:
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2019-20: Writer-in-Residence,
Flat Time House
(John Latham’s home and
studio),
London
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2018-20: Critical
Writer-in-Residence, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool
-
2014: Writer-in-Residence,
FACT Liverpool
Selected Exhibitions:
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Aug 2024: Exhibitor, Co-curator, Excess Baggage, Festival Voies Off, Arles/Les
Rencontres d'Arles, France
-
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
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Jun-Jul 2015: Curator, LIV-BCN Festival, Bau University, Barcelona, Spain, and the Exhibition
Research Centre, Liverpool John Moores University
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Jun-Aug 2012: Curator, The
Spectacle of the Lost, Victoria Gallery & Museum,
Liverpool
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Sept-Oct 2010: Co-curator, Hierarchies
of Allegiance, The Royal Standard, Liverpool
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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
Based in Liverpool, UK, with easy access to airport and train services. Free to travel.
To discuss hiring me (commissions, guest lectures/workshops, mentoring, visiting studios, 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
TikTok:
︎︎︎ @art_critic_laura
Buy me a coffee ☕️️ :
︎︎︎ www.buymeacoffee.com/laurarobbo