Artspeak: English Language Workshop

About

Despite the dominance of English as the international language of art, many people still lack confidence when discussing more complex ideas. This four-day workshop for art English will give participants the opportunity to critically engage with images and exhibitions, discuss theories of art and articulate individual ideas.

The workshop will consist of two parts. The first will include classroom-based seminars where particular themes such as ‘the museum and curating practices’, ‘language and art’, or ‘post-internet art’ will be analysed and explored. Here we will look at a diverse selection of modern and contemporary artworks and focus on making logical arguments based on visual or theoretical evidence, defending theoretical positions, using socio-political vocabulary when forming opinions, and identifying appropriate language for debating and disagreeing. Participants will first gather ideas in small teams and later present them to the wider group. In the second part of the course, language skills will be challenged within the real-world context of the gallery or museum. It will involve getting to know the Berlin art scene through gallery and museum trips and discussing exhibitions in situ. 

By the end of the course students should have:

• increased confidence when describing artworks
• increased ability to express complex ideas
• increased confidence in forming opinions and calmly debating with other students
• widened their vocabulary and become aware of any recurring grammatical errors