Critical Writing Fellowship

CRITICAL WRITING FELLOWSHIP

Momus has closed its application call for the third iteration of the Critical Writing Fellowship, supported in 2024 by Critical Minded.

This paid opportunity provides sustained mentorship, editorial support, and network-building to an early-career art writer or critic. Over an 8-month period (April to December 2024) of research, dialogue, and drafting, the Fellow will produce a feature-length text to be published in Momus. Two Shortlisted Fellows will also be commissioned to produce texts for publication in Momus.

This year, mentorship is overseen by writer and critic Jessica Lynne, who says:

 As this year’s Critical Writing Fellowship mentor, I am excited to dream alongside, champion, and closely support writers whose perspectives are not readily present in art writing. Writers are encouraged to be ambitious in their proposals as there are no thematic priorities. I see this fellowship as a time for daring writing informed by clear, guiding frameworks; but this does not mean that writers are expected to have all of the answers at the time of proposal submission. This fellowship is designed to make room for the pleasure of questions and surprising investigations.

Lynne and the Fellow, who will be announced in March, will work closely together, exploring the “big picture” elements of the selected Fellow’s research as well as the challenges, nuances, and intimacies of the writing process itself. In conversation with Lynne, the Fellow will develop a regular meeting schedule for progress check-ins and create a calendar for the submissions of essay drafts and revisions. As a mentor, Lynne will also share related resources and strive to make connections to institutions, individuals, and other professional entities that are especially related to the Fellow’s project. 

For more information about past Critical Writing Fellowships, scroll down.

Program Details

Ideal Candidate: An early-career art writer/critic with some publishing experience, a clear voice, and the desire to learn and evolve through the editing process. Applicants writing from a de-centered or historically marginalized position will be prioritized. There are no limitations on the candidate’s geographic location as this is a remote position.

Honorarium: $4,000 USD for an 8-month fellowship. 

Time Commitment: The Fellow is expected to spend a minimum of 5 hours per week on their writing, research, and communication with their mentor and the Momus editorial advisors. The mentor will have up to three hours a week available for working with the Fellow, in the form of reading, editing, and communication. 

Shortlisted Fellows: Two Shortlisted Fellows will be commissioned to write a long form piece for publication in Momus, with the guidance of the editorial team.

Mentor Bio: Jessica Lynne is a writer, art critic, and Momus Associate Editor. She is a founding editor of ARTS.BLACK, an online journal of art criticism from Black perspectives. Her writing has been featured in publications such as Artforum, The Believer, Frieze, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and Oxford American, where she is a contributing editor. She is the recipient of a 2020 Research and Development award from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, a 2020 Arts Writer Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation, and the inaugural Beverly Art Writers Travel Grant awarded in 2022 by the American Australian Association. 

Adjudication: Applications will be adjudicated by Jessica Lynne with Sky Goodden, Momus Founding Publisher; Lauren Wetmore, Director of Programs; and Merray Gerges, Associate Editor.

Application Instructions

Please send your application as a single PDF to programs@momus.ca by Sunday 25 February, midnight EST. 

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview, and the results will be announced before the start of the fellowship in April.

The application should be a single PDF and contain the following:

 

  1. A one-page letter of intent describing why you are applying for the fellowship and the area of interest you would seek to engage in through the fellowship.
  2. A C.V. (no more than three pages long)
  3. One published writing sample; a second writing sample is optional (the second sample may be published or unpublished). There is no word limit.

Any questions about the program or the application process can be directed to programs@momus.ca.

 

PAST CRITICAL WRITING FELLOWS 2021-23

The 2023 Fellowship was delivered in partnership with Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, with mentorship overseen by Rahel Aima and editorial support from Jessica Lynne.

CRITICAL WRITING FELLOW 2023

Kira Xonorika is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and writer. Her work explores the connections between futurism, AI collaboration, trans and queer temporalities, dynamics between the Global North and South, indigenous sovereignty, internet aesthetics, and Web3. They edited an issue of the GenderIT journal titled “Trans Perspectives on Technology & Politics from Latin America.” Their writing has been published by e-flux, Cambridge University, and Tonantzin. They have recently given lectures at King’s College London, the University of Eau Claire, and the University of Buenos Aires.

SHORTLISTED FELLOWS

Doreen A. Rios is an independent curator and researcher based in Mexico City. Her work focuses on digital art, post-digital practices, and new materialities. Ríos is founder and director of [ANTI]MATERIA, an online platform dedicated to the research and exhibition of art produced through digital media. From 2019 to 2021 she was chief curator at Centro de Cultura Digital Mexico City and is currently part of the international selectors committee for the Lumen Art Prize. She VJs at Minipixel, conducts experimental research at Unidad de Conciencias Colectivas Terrestres, and teaches at CENTRO and Universidad Anáhuac. Ríos holds a MA in Contemporary Curating with a specialization in digital cultures from Winchester School of Arts and a degree in Architecture from Tecnológico de Monterrey. Read Doreen A. Rios’s published fellowship text here.

Cassie Packard is a Brooklyn-based art writer interested in the intersection of visual culture and queerness, networks, and worlding. She has bylines at publications including Art in America, Artforum, ArtReview, BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, Financial Times, frieze, Hyperallergic, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The New Inquiry, among others. She has contributed several catalogue essays and exhibition texts, and her first book is forthcoming from Frances Lincoln. A member of the International Association of Art Critics, Packard was a 2022 Recess Critical Writing Fellow and a 2019 Fellow in the Art & Law Program. She was previously a researcher at Hauser & Wirth and holds a MA in Art History from University College London and a BA in Art History from Brown University. Read Cassie Packard’s published fellowship text here.

Cassie Packard, Kira Xonorika, and Doreen A. Rios.

 

CRITICAL WRITING FELLOW 2021-22

The 2021-22 Fellowship was delivered in partnership with Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, with mentorship overseen by Nora N. Khan and editorial support from Rahel Aima and Jessica Lynne.

Arushi Vats is a New Delhi-based arts, literary, and culture writer. From a highly competitive applicant pool, Vats astounded us with the clarity of her vision, the strength of her early publishing experience (including platforms such as MARCH: a journal of art & strategy, Alternative South Asia Photography, The Karachi Collective, and Critical Collective), and the depth of her resonance with Nora N. Khan’s practice. Further, Vats’s ambition to write on art “as a site for both lyrical affinities and radical challenges” aligned meaningfully with the goals of the Fractal Fellowship at Eyebeam.

In addition to publishing in cultural venues including LSE International History and Write | Art | Connect, Vats has published short stories and poetry in The Gulmohar Quarterly, Hakara Journal, and PIX Quarterly. She has also authored several curatorial essays, including for a volume titled The Constitution of India at 70: Celebrate, Illuminate, Rejuvenate, Defend, published by Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust in 2021. Vats was featured on Momus: The Podcast (Season 5, Episode 6) reading from and discussing Exit the Rehearsal: A Body in Delhi, published by Runway Journal. Read Arushi Vat’s published fellowship text here.

SHORTLISTED FELLOWS

Simon Wu is a writer and curator based in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. His writing has appeared in publications including Art in America, BOMB, The Drift, frieze, and Momus. He is an alum of the Whitney Independent Study Program and a curator with the Racial Imaginary Institute. He is a 2021 grantee of the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. Read Simon Wu’s published fellowship text here.

Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung is a writer based in Berlin, and founding editor of institutional critique platform Decolonial Hacker. He studied art history, gender studies and law at the University of Sydney, and is currently the curatorial assistant at the Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin. In 2021, he was awarded the International Award for Art Criticism.

Arushi Vats, 2021; Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung (image credit: Agustín Farias); Simon Wu (image credit: Thomas Blair).