e-flux Criticism presents: On editing and the creative process

At the conclusion of the first in this series of talks hosted by e-flux Criticism, in March 2023, there was a question from the audience for Teju Cole. Its asker was herself a painter and a writer, she explained, and often wished that she might, in her artistic practice, have the benefit of the support that is provided to writers by their editors. Is there an analogy, she wondered, between working through edits on a text and the creative process of the visual artist?  

That member of the audience was Amy Sillman, and we are delighted to welcome her back to e-flux to reflect upon the question from the stage. She will be joined on this panel about editing and the creative process by the celebrated editor Adam Moss, now the author of a book of conversations with artists on the subject of their creative process, and the art historian, writer, and editor Prudence Peiffer, author of a widely acclaimed group biography reflecting on the relationship between a work of art and the wider social and intellectual communities that do so much to shape it. 

With e-flux Criticism editor Ben Eastham for an interlocutor, they will discuss editing as a working methodology. Is the revision of a text usefully analogous to the series of corrections, changes, and modifications through which an idea comes to be realised as a work of art? Can this process also be collaborative? How are those decisions made, and how much is any work of art the product of revisions and consultations as much as the expression of a private inspiration? What does that process, in practical terms, look like? 

Best known for large-scale gestural paintings hovering between abstraction and representation, Amy Sillman’s practice also extends to the publication of zines and digital animations. Her essays on art—which range from casting a queer eye over the New York School to elaborating on the role of the body in painting or reflecting on the works of artists as diverse as Eugene Delacroix and Rachel Harrison—were collected in Faux Pas (After 8 books, 2020). 

Adam Moss is the author of The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing (Penguin, April 2024), which collects conversations about the creative process with artists ranging from Simphiwe Ndzube to Tony Kushner. He was editor of New York magazine from 2004 to 2019, during which time he transformed it from a single publication to a multi-title print and digital company. He was previously editor of the New York Times Magazine and founding editor of 7 Days. 

Prudence Peiffer is an art historian, writer, and editor, specializing in modern and contemporary art. She is Director of Content at MoMA, New York. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Review of Books, Artforum, and Bookforum, among other publications. Her book THE SLIP: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever (2023) was longlisted for the National Book Award, longlisted for the Plutarch Award for best biography, shortlisted for the Apollo Book of the Year Award, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

For more information, contact program@e-flux.com.

Accessibility  
–Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.    
–For elevator access, please RSVP to program@e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator which leads into the e-flux office space. Entrance to the elevator is nearest to 180 Classon Ave (a garage door). We have a ramp for the steps within the space.             
–e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom. There are no steps between the event space and this bathroom.