Cathryn Drake
New York, NY
28 Years Experience
Professional Experience
Cathryn Drake is a freelance writer and editor. Formerly copy chief of design magazine Metropolis, she edits publications for Yale School of Architecture as well as for book publishers, cultural institutions, curators, and academics. She is especially adept at tightening texts and refining translations for more clear, concise, vivid, grammatical, and graceful texts. She has written about art, design, travel, and culture for Artforum, e-flux Criticism, frieze, Metropolis, Men’s Vogue, Kathimerini, BBC, Time, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, among other periodicals. She has contributed essays to many exhibition catalogs, including “Present Perfect: Meme and Memory,” on artist Leonard Qylafi, for the Albanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2017. She also curated the exhibition “The Presence of Absence, or the Catastrophe Theory,” shown at Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre (NiMAC), in Cyprus, in 2018, and at Izolyatsia, in Kiev, Ukraine, in 2016.
Expertise
- Editor 22 Years
- Promotions 8 Years
- Writer 15 Years
Specialty
- Arts & Humanities 24 Years
- Politics 4 Years
- Travel 14 Years
Industries
- Book publishing - all 25 Years
- Magazine - Trade magazines/publications (B2B) 16 Years
- Independent Feature Film 2 Years
Media Client List (# Assignments Last 2 Yrs)
Corporate Client List (# Assignments Last 2 Yrs)
Foreign Language Skills
Italian, Greek
Other work history
1999–Present ASSOCIATE EDITOR, Yale University School of Architecture. 2000–2008 COPY CHIEF, Metropolis Magazine, New York. 1995–2000 PUBLICATIONS EDITOR, Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1993–1995 ASSOCIATE EDITOR, Rizzoli International Publications, New York. 1992–1993 COPY EDITOR, Diversion, Hearst Magazines, New York. 1991–1992 MANAGING EDITOR, Four Walls Eight Windows, New York. 1988–1991 PUBLICITY DIRECTOR, Ann Arbor Film Festival. 1985–1986 RESEARCH EDITOR, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, Center for Political Studies. 1984-1985 PRODUCTION EDITOR, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. 1980–1984 LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT, US Congressman Timothy Wirth, Washington, D.C.
Culture & Travel
Beyond: Jewels of the Venetian Lagoon
Beyond 2019-08-01 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: An Ottoman Time Capsule, Gjirokastra, Albania
Wall Street Journal 2017-08-31 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: A Traghetto Tour of Venice
Wall Street Journal 2008-10-16 00:00:00
Washington Post: Island-Hopping in Venice
Washington Post 2012-09-16 00:00:00
Men's Vogue: Casa Carlo Mollino, in Turin, Italy
Men's Vogue 2009-01-01 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: Italy's Lago Bolsena
Wall Street Journal 2008-08-14 00:00:00
Time Magazine: Private House Museums in Rome
Time Magazine 2012-05-09 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: Castello di Ama Grows an Art Collection in Chianti
Wall Street Journal 2012-10-19 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: Secrets of the Sistine Chapel
Wall Street Journal 2008-11-14 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: A Carpet Ride in the Mountain Villages of Sardinia
Wall Street Journal 2008-03-14 00:00:00
New York Times International: The Historic Cinemas of Athens
New York Times International: Greece Is 2023-03-22 00:00:00
New York Times International: Tourkovounia, the Fabled Hills of Athens
New York Times International: Greece Is 2022-08-01 00:00:00
New York Times International: Rebirth of a Pagan Island Instrument
Greece Is 2021-07-21 00:00:00
BBC Travel: Greece’s Last Island Paradise?
BBC Travel 2019-10-31 00:00:00
Time Magazine: A Stroll through Old Cairo
Time Magazine 2011-01-27 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: Egypt's Siwa Oasis Blooms Anew
Wall Street Journal 2009-08-28 00:00:00
Wall Street Journal: Olafur Eliasson and Hans-Ulrich Obrist in Iceland
Wall Street Journal 2008-06-01 00:00:00
There: The Architecture of Intimacy, a Journey through Public Bathing
There Magazine 2003-02-01 00:00:00
Contemporary Art
Flash Art: Folding the Sea into Dresses that Dissolve Like Salt, Perasma, Leros Island, Greece
Flash Art 2025-08-04 00:00:00
e-flux Criticism: Emily Jacir and Michael Rakowitz at Città dell’Utopia, Rome
e-flux Criticism 2024-11-23 00:00:00
e-flux Criticism: Ali Cherri's Dreamless Night at GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy
e-flux Criticism 2023-11-20 00:00:00
e-flux Criticism: Manifesta 14 in Pristina, Kosovo
e-flux Criticism 2022-07-29 00:00:00
e-flux Criticism: Elmgreen & Dragset at Fondazione Prada, Milan
e-flux Criticism 2022-05-06 00:00:00
Artforum: Matthew Wong at ARCH Athens
Artforum 2020-12-01 00:00:00
Artforum: Rossella Biscotti at Blitz, Valletta, Malta
Artforum 2019-05-01 00:00:00
Frieze: Cycles of Collapsing Progress, in Tripoli, Lebanon
Frieze 2019-01-13 00:00:00
Ocula: "I Taste the Future," Lofoten International Arts Festival, Norway
Ocula 2017-10-12 00:00:00
Artforum: Documenta 14 in Athens
Artforum 2017-02-10 00:00:00
Art & Australia: Rudolf Stingel at Palazzo Grassi, Venice
Art & Australia 2014-02-01 00:00:00
Artforum: On the Ground in Naples, Italy
Artforum 2008-12-01 00:00:00
Art Diary
Artforum: "Memento Morra," in Naples, Italy
Artforum 2019-07-09 00:00:00
Artforum: "Divine Comedy," Pompeii at MADRE in Naples, Italy
Artforum 2017-12-24 00:00:00
Artforum: “Another Day in Paradise,” Volcano Extravaganza in Stromboli, Italy
Artforum 2016-08-05 00:00:00
Artforum: "Over the Edge," in Svalbard, Norway
Artforum 2016-06-28 00:00:00
Artforum: "For Love or Money," in Mykonos, Greece
Artforum 2015-07-04 00:00:00
Artforum: "Creative Representation," in Dakar, Senegal
Artforum 2014-06-04 00:00:00
Artforum: "Midsummer Night's Dream," in Donetsk, Ukraine
Artforum 2012-08-01 00:00:00
Artforum: “Playing with Fire,” in Doha, Qatar
Artforum 2011-12-13 00:00:00
Artforum: "Talking Turkey," in Sinop, Turkey
Artforum 2010-08-27 00:00:00
Artforum: "Disco Inferno," Carnvial in Venice, Italy
Artforum 2010-04-14 00:00:00
Artforum: "Happi Campers," Gesai Art Fair, in Tokyo
Artforum 2008-09-22 00:00:00
Artforum: "Amazing Race," Reykjavik Arts Festival
Artforum 2008-05-25 00:00:00
Architecture & Design
Men's Vogue: Matteo di Montezemolo, a Company Man in Milan
Men's Vogue 2008-05-01 00:00:00
Architect's Newspaper: Zaha Hadid's MAXXI in Rome
Architect's Newspaper 2009-12-02 00:00:00
Metropolis: Richard Meier's Ara Pacis in Rome
Metropolis 2006-07-01 00:00:00
Metropolis: A Giant Ear in Boxberg, Germany
Metropolis 2008-02-01 00:00:00
Metropolis: Floating Homes in the Netherlands
Metropolis 2010-07-01 00:00:00
Metropolis: A Modernist Chapel in Soca, Uruguay
Metropolis 2007-05-01 00:00:00
Metropolis: The Sky Train in Bangkok
Metropolis 2003-01-01 00:00:00
Metropolis: The Aga Khan Transforms Cairo
Metropolis 2010-02-01 00:00:00
Metropolis: The Wives and Lives of Artist Jan Yoors
Metropolis 2001-06-01 00:00:00
Exhibition Catalogs
“You Are the World,” in “Alexander Ruthner,” Dio Horia, Mykonos, 2021
Dio Horia 2021-09-09 00:00:00
“The Ur-realism of Alex Urban,” in Alex Urban: SMOLA/TAR, Fontarte Editions, 2019
Leto Gallery 2019-07-01 00:00:00
"The Presence of Absence, or the Catastrophe Theory," NiMAC, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2018
Nicosia Municipal Art Centre 2018-02-16 00:00:00
"Present Perfect, Meme and Memory," Leonard Qylafi, Albanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 2017
Sternberg Press 2017-05-01 00:00:00
"How to Stop Time: Pieter Vermeersch" and "Light-Motif: Jef Verheyen," in "The Gap," Parasol Unit, London, 2015
Parasol Unit, London 2015-11-01 00:00:00
"American Normal," in "Dan Attoe: You Have More Freedom Than You're Using," Peres Projects, Berlin, 2006
Peres Projects, Berlin 2006-06-23 00:00:00