Akerman Daly

Jeremy Akerman is an artist and writer, Eileen Daly is an editor and writer. We have a shared interest in artists’ writing, which we see as a distinct area of visual arts practice that has a character of its own.

In response we have made space for artists’ writing to be commissioned, read and performed. This means publishing books, online publishing, performative readings, interviews and more.

Teaching writing has evolved through our ongoing exchange with artists and art institutions. Our teaching approach values being in conversation with others, being responsive to what we read on the page and using this as a starting point.

Our Approach

The genre heading ‘art writing’ is used as a catch-all description for artists’ writing. It’s a heading we know well and have given plenty of thought to. We altered it slightly for AD’s strapline to ‘art and writing’. This better describes the territory in our view, because no matter how closely linked and interdependent words and images are, they are different. What an artist writes about may or may not reflect their visual output, even though both remain important parts of their studio practice.

The driving force for us comes from seeing the wider possibilities artists’ writings can bring. It offers any artist a rich ground and space to occupy. One reason for this unusual open space is because the art writing ground is only partially mapped out; it remains a sprawling hinterland populated by a wide range of participants, including artists, curators, publishers, writers and poets.