Cathryn Drake

Contact

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 prose and polishing translations for more vivid, clear, concise, grammatical, and graceful texts. A correspondent for Artforum since 2004, she has also contributed to e-flux Criticism, Frieze, Men’s Vogue, BBC, NPR, Time, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, among others. She has written essays for many exhibition catalogs, including “Present Perfect: Meme and Memory,” 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

Total Media Industry Experience

28 Years

Other Work History

1999–Present EDITOR, Yale University School of Architecture. 2000–2008 COPY CHIEF, Metropolis Magazine, New York. 1995–2000 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. 1980–1984 LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT, US Congressman Timothy Wirth, Washington, DC.

Foreign Language Skills

Italian, Greek

Portfolios

Contemporary Art

e-flux Criticism: Repetitions at Citronne Gallery, Poros, Greece
(e-flux Criticism 7/20/2023)
e-flux Criticism: Manifesta 14 in Pristina, Kosovo
(e-flux Criticism 7/29/2022)
e-flux Criticism: Elmgreen & Dragset’s “Useless Bodies?” at Fondazione Prada, Milan
(e-flux Criticism 5/6/2022)
Perambulation: What Remains: On Vicky Pericleous’s The Idle Fountain
(Perambulation 3/31/2022)
Artforum: Paulo Nimer Pjota at DEO Projects, Chios, Greece
(Artforum 10/1/2021)
Artforum: Ali Banisadr at Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
(Artforum 4/1/2021)
Artforum: Matthew Wong at ARCH Athens, Greece
(Artforum 12/1/2020)
Artforum: Lynda Benglis at Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece
(Artforum 5/1/2020)
Artforum: Hulda Guzmán at Dio Horia, Athens, Greece
(Artforum 2/1/2020)
Artforum: "Anatomy of Political Melancholy," Athens, Greece
(Artforum 6/1/2019)
Artforum: Rossella Biscotti at Blitz, Valletta, Malta
(Artforum 5/1/2019)
Frieze: "Cycles of Collapsing Progress," Tripoli, Lebanon
(Frieze 1/13/2019)
Artforum: "ANTI," 6th Athens Biennale, Greece
(Artforum 2/1/2019)
Artforum: Loukia Alavanou at State of Concept, Athens, Greece
(Artforum 6/1/2018)
Ocula: "I Taste the Future," Lofoten International Arts Festival, Norway
(Ocula 10/12/2017)
Frieze: "Flying Over the Abyss," Athens, Greece
(Frieze 4/1/2017)
Artforum: "On the Ground: Athens, Greece"
(Artforum 2/10/2017)
Artforum: "Time Flies Like an Arrow, Fruit Flies Like a Banana," Tinos, Greece
(Artforum 12/1/2015)
Art Review: Persiana, by Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen, at Cultuurcentrum Mechelen, Belgium
(Art Review 3/1/2015)
Art & Australia: "Carpet Fetish," Rudolf Stingel at Palazzo Grassi, Venice
(Art & Australia 2/1/2014)
Artforum: "On the Ground: Naples, Italy"
(Artforum 12/1/2008)

Culture & Travel

Greece Is: Where Time Flies: The Historic Cinemas of Athens
(Greece Is 3/22/2023)
Greece Is: Tourkovounia: The Fabled Hills of Athens, Greece
(Greece Is 8/1/2022)
Greece Is: The Mysteries of Ardittos Hill
(Greece Is 12/28/2021)
Greece Is: Heirs of Pan: Rebirth of a Pagan Island Instrument
(Greece Is 7/21/2021)
BBC Travel: “Greece’s Last Island Paradise?”
(BBC Travel 10/31/2019)
Beyond: "Venetian Islands: Jewels of the Lagoon"
(Beyond 8/1/2019)
Wall Street Journal: "An Ottoman Time Capsule," in Gjirokastra, Albania
(Wall Street Journal 8/31/2017)
Wall Street Journal: "Castello di Ama's Amorous Allure," Chianti Vineyard Grows an Art Collection
(Wall Street Journal 10/19/2012)
Washington Post: "Into the Lagoon: Island-Hopping in Venice"
(Washington Post 9/16/2012)
Men's Vogue: "Buried Treasure," Casa Carlo Mollino, in Turin, Italy
(Men's Vogue 1/1/2009)
Time Magazine: "Walk Like an Egyptian: A Stroll through Old Cairo"
(Time Magazine 1/27/2011)
Wall Street Journal: "In Egypt's Desert, an Oasis Blooms Anew"
(Wall Street Journal 8/28/2009)
Wall Street Journal: "Venice Crossings: A Traghetto Tour Reveals the City's Other Side"
(Wall Street Journal 10/16/2008)
Wall Street Journal: "Liquid Refreshment: Italy's Lago Bolsena"
(Wall Street Journal 8/14/2008)
Wall Street Journal: "Did Michelangelo Have a Hidden Agenda?" Sistine Chapel Secrets
(Wall Street Journal 11/14/2008)
Wall Street Journal: "A Modern Take on Iceland's Traditional Hand-Knit Look"
(Wall Street Journal 7/18/2008)
Wall Street Journal: "A Sardinian Carpet Ride," in the Villages of the Barbagia Mountains
(Wall Street Journal 3/14/2008)
There Magazine: "The Architecture of Intimacy," Journey through Public Baths
(There Magazine 2/1/2003)

Architecture & Design

Metropolis: "At Home on the Water," Floating Homes in Holland
(Metropolis 7/1/2010)
Architect's Newspaper: "Zaha Maxima," Hadid's New Museum in Rome
(Architect's Newspaper 12/2/2009)
Metropolis: "Ear to the Ground," Land Art in Germany
(Metropolis 2/1/2008)
Metropolis: "Born Again," Modernist Chapel in Uruguay
(Metropolis 5/1/2007)
Vogue: "Get in Shape," Designer Neri Oxman
(Vogue 6/1/2009)
Metropolis: "Pacis Moderna," Richard Meier in Rome
(Metropolis 7/1/2006)
Men's Vogue: "Company Man," Matteo di Montezemolo in Milan
(Men's Vogue 5/1/2008)
Metropolis: "Fly the Friendly Sky Train," in Bangkok
(Metropolis 1/1/2003)
Metropolis: "Spirit of Community," Aga Khan neighborhood restoration in Cairo
(Metropolis 2/1/2010)
Metropolis: "Tied in the Wool," The Wives and Lives of Jan Yoors
(Metropolis 6/1/2001)

Art Exhibition Essays

“You Are the World,” in “Alexander Ruthner: Volume 1,” Dio Horia, Mykonos, 2021
(Dio Horia 9/9/2021)
“Code Red,” in “Eleni Phyla: It’s Getting Hot in Here,” Edit Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus, 2020
(Edit Gallery 10/1/2020)
“The Ur-realism of Alex Urban,” in Alex Urban: SMOLA/TAR, Fontarte Editions, 2019
(Leto Gallery 7/1/2019)
"East of Eden: Fractured Histories, Constructed Identities, Fragmented Realities," proposal for Greek Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, 2019
(proposal for Greek Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art 5/1/2018)
"The Presence of Absence, or the Catastrophe Theory," NiMAC, Nicosia, Cyprus, 2018
(Nicosia Municipal Art Centre 2/16/2018)
"Present Perfect, Meme and Memory," Leonard Qylafi, Albanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 2017
(Sternberg Press 5/1/2017)
"How to Stop Time" and "Light-Motif," Pieter Vermeersch and Jef Verheyen in "The Gap," Parasol Unit, London, 2015
(Parasol Unit, London 11/1/2015)
"American Normal," in "Dan Attoe: You Have More Freedom Than You're Using," Peres Projects, Berlin, 2006
(Peres Projects, Berlin 6/23/2006)

Art & Society

Artforum: "Memento Morra," in Naples, Italy
(Artforum 7/9/2019)
Artforum: "Over the Edge," in Svalbard, Norway
(Artforum 6/28/2016)
Artforum: "For Love or Money," in Mykonos, Greece
(Artforum 7/4/2015)
Artforum: "Midsummer Night's Dream," in Donetsk, Ukraine
(Artforum 8/1/2012)
Artforum: “Playing with Fire,” in Doha, Qatar
(Artforum 12/13/2011)
Artforum: "Talking Turkey," in Sinop, Turkey
(Artforum 8/27/2010)

News & Opinion

Artforum: "Cultural Figures Decry Greek Ministry’s Handling of Museum Director Search"
(Artforum 3/11/2019)
Wall Street Journal: "The Other Greek Crisis"
(Wall Street Journal 11/28/2012)