In conversation with Mimi Chu

“There are so many things that you can explore intellectually in art. I love that.”

- Mimi Chu

Image: Mimi Chu

Mimi is an Assistant Editor at Frieze and has a penchant for contemporary art and the written word. Frieze is a leading magazine of contemporary art and culture. Mimi’s priority in all that she does is to reveal unacknowledged truths about art history, culture and current affairs.

Can you tell me more about your job?

I am working as an Assistant Editor for Frieze. My job entails a huge range of things including commissioning reviews from the UK and Australasia, choosing writers, choosing what shows to cover, copyediting, making corrections, conducting picture research and commissioning quick responses to topical events in the art world. I do work for both the digital magazine and the print version. It usually involves juggling a lot of things!

What does an average working day look like for you at Frieze?

I usually start the day off by making a huge list of everything that I need to do. And I normally only get through about 20%. It’s good to know what needs prioritizing.

I’m sure a lot of people in the art world will relate, but in this kind of role you have to shift gears quite a lot and change what you’re focusing on. There is a very different type of attention required for proofreading, to researching, or to approaching a writer for instance.

What’s your work-life balance like?

I would say it’s average. As an Editor there is always more that I could be doing, but you could be working forever and still not be satisfied. There is definitely something compulsive about my job, and I am quite often known to be crouched over my laptop finishing something off whilst with my friends for drinks or something.

There is so much pressure to be productive all the time, and I think young people are the ones who are constantly facing this pressure. I find by the time I have completed my working week I am definitely ready for the weekend and a break. It’s really important to take the downtime when you can. It’s just a big juggling game – that’s what adult life is.

What drew you to the art world?

When I was younger, I visited the Tate Modern a lot and always loved contemporary art. The Spider by Louise Bourgeois stood out to me a lot. Contemporary art is what instantly grabbed me and then I got into making art at school.

There are so many things that you can explore intellectually in art. I love that.

What was your journey into your current role like?

I did Art at A-Level and was on the art scholarship whilst at school. Then when I left school, I managed to secure an internship at The White Cube which was quite intimidating, but great experience. I was working in the press department which meant checking stuff before it went out to publication alongside other tasks. I got this through a family friend that worked there, and I was essentially her intern. But I wasn’t paid for this role and I was living with my parents at the time. Again, that’s only something that is accessible to people who already have that support in place. I think more paid trainee internships or workshop programmes are really vital if we want the art industry to stay interesting.

I went on to study Art History at the University of Manchester and followed it with a Masters in 15th Century Netherlandish Painting at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. I definitely learnt a lot through my degree and my masters, but I don’t know how much of the learning I actually still use, whereas I definitely still use the thinking.

After studying, I actually worked in a café for a year. Following this, I curated an exhibition for an artist, Ishbel McWhirter, in Hampstead at a place called Burgh House. It was an artist that I met through my parents’ friend, and it was putting on a show for artwork that pretty much no one had seen before. It was quite a big project and included artwork from her whole career. It was quite tough working with a formidable, elderly artist who was very specific about how she wanted the art presented. When an artist is really involved in the curation of their show there is a lot of back and forth between what they want and what other people will want to see.

That’s the only curatorial project that I’ve done really. But it entailed everything from first sourcing the work, choosing it, getting it framed, thinking of a narrative, writing text for the labels, getting in touch with the people in the gallery to arrange how the works were physically hung, and I also gave a speech on the opening night. This was quite intimidating, because she was a portrait artist so many of the people that attended were famous actors or other established people that she had done portraits of.

I then did the Frieze Publishing Traineeship and I feel really lucky to have got that internship. It didn’t require too much experience, but just more of a general interest in the art world and what Frieze were doing. The people that I met through this process became mentors to me and I found it to be such a valuable experience. I have been working at Frieze ever since, working my way up to my current role as Assistant Editor. I think when you come out of university or school you aren’t necessarily set up with the skillset that you need on your CV to get the jobs that you want. So, this internship was a really good transition into working life.

So, what is it that you love about the art industry?

The definition of art is expanding.

I love getting to know and understand so much new art all the time.  

I like the fact that the industry is quite mutable and quite porous. It can be a platform for people to learn something new or to think differently. For example, quite a lot of people seem to be diverging from the traditional model of selling art in a gallery. People are being more creative with how they find their industry and make money and that’s exciting.

In your experience, what are the biggest misconceptions about the art industry?

From the outside, art can look like a bit of a closed box. But you really don’t have to have such a traditional background to get into art. Many of the gallerists that I’ve worked with don’t have art degrees, and a lot of the artists that I’m interested in wouldn’t necessarily call themselves just artists.

There are a lot of different disciplines that you can move to art from. A lot of what I do, I learnt on the job.

What do you think could be done to improve the current industry?

It could be improved if it was less centralised and a bit less based on what the big galleries and commercial spaces are doing. Yes, they are producing interesting work in their own right, but it isn’t the only way. We shouldn’t feel pressured to be completely assimilated into that way of art.

There is also a lot to be done to make the art world more diverse. There is some diversity in the artists that are widely recognized, but not so much in the workplace. The steppingstones that you need to take to get into these roles are determined by your economic background, if you are university educated and your parents. This is quite stifling and makes the art world feel quite insular and homogenous. Everyone is coming from the same background and so anything that can open that out is really wonderful.

Who are some of your favourite artists on the scene right now?

I love the work of Jake Elwes. He’s been working with computer generated AI to put on drag performances, which is essentially confusing the way that AI reads identities.  

I was also recently introduced to Heba Y. Amin. She’s a multimedia artist whose work is very research-based. She has an upcoming show at The Mosaic Room, which I’m excited about, looking at the impact of new technologies on the Egyptian revolution.

One of the first kind of digital lockdown experiences that I had with art was with this artist called Emma Hislop. She has been working mostly with bio medics and looking at the relationship between gut health and climate change. She’s also worked with economists looking at the idea of the circular economy – one that is regenerative and sustainable – and with glass makers.

What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in art?

Be practical about what you want to achieve without compromising what you believe in. I think that it’s always important to know your audience and work with as many people that inspire you as you can. There will inevitably reach a point where you feel a pressure to act in a certain way that doesn’t feel natural to you. It’s important to stick to your gut.

There is a sense that the art world can be quite tribal and there is a pressure to conform to a certain way of life. At the end of the day, it’s a lifestyle career, and I think you consciously have to stay true to yourself.

Some of the most exciting figures in the arts are people who go against the grain a bit. These are the people that really stand out.

What do you see yourself doing in the future?

I think for now, I am still really growing in the publishing side of art. I would like to move into broader culture not just contemporary art. I would like to write more for other magazines and get a feel for what other publications are like.

 Looking long-term I would love to get into filmmaking, scriptwriting, but just generally writing is something that I would like to continue.

Interview by Mollie Kate Cohen