frieze magazine visit to Aotearoa New Zealand

Sean Burns, associate editor frieze magazine, is a filmmaker, editor and writer. He directed the film Dorothy Towers and co‑founded Queer Street Press, an independent publishing imprint. He writes extensively on art and culture and serves on the advisory council at Tate. He has taught as a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London, and the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford.

Burns’s film work has been presented internationally, including at Auto Italia and the British Film Institute, London; the Edinburgh Art Festival; TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, Galway; Goswell Road, Paris; and the Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel. In 2023, Tate Publishing released his book Death, which examines the intersections of life, love and mortality in art.

He has written major profiles of artists including Marlene Dumas and Sang Woo Kim; contributed essays to books, monographs and exhibition catalogues on figures such as Richard Maguire, Jack O’Brien and Jenkin Van Zyl; and conducted interviews with leading cultural figures including Hilton Als, Adam Curtis, Jack Halberstam, Shirin Neshat and Peter Saville. In 2024, he received a residency and development grant from Montez Press, with whom he is developing his first novel, forthcoming in 2027. He lives in London.

To read some of Sean's recent writing for frieze magazine click here.

Sean will visit Aotearoa New Zealand for three weeks in November / December 2026 where he will be hosted in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, in Ōtepoti Dunedin by Dunedin Public Art Gallery, in Ōtautahi Christchurch by Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington by Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and in Ngamotu New Plymouth by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.

While in Aotearoa, Sean will undertake a series of gallery and studio visits, and will work with the hosting museums to offer roundtable seminars drawing on his experience as an editor at frieze magazine and a freelance writer, sharing insights into how artists, critics, galleries, magazines, and writers work together at a time when the institutional and media landscape is shifting.

Public event

Talk by Sean Burns at Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Monday 23 November 5.30pm - 6.30pm
Free - everyone welcome, no booking necessary

Editor and writer Sean Burns will draw on his experience as an editor at frieze magazine and a freelance writer, sharing insights into how artists, critics, galleries, magazines, and writers work together at a time when the institutional and media landscape is shifting. Addressing how artists and writers can interact, draw attention to their work, and understand the different roles that shape visibility in contemporary culture, Sean will unpack how arts publishing and criticism operate today and reflect openly on mistakes, successes, and lessons learned.