about

i am a writer of prose and criticism. my academic work revolves around the relation between aesthetic forms and global capitalism, specifically in post-reunification germany.

before joining harvard’s department of art, film, and visual studies as a phd candidate, i studied art history and classical archaeology in berlin, paris, and berkeley. i grew up on the baltic sea and in scotland, and now live in berlin and cambridge, ma.

i write a substack newsletter called softshell. my essays, interviews, and criticism have appeared in e-flux, texte zur kunst, the baffler, x-tra, mubi notebook, taz, the brooklyn rail, BOMB, and senses of cinema, among others. i am a co-editor of re:visions, an open-access journal for recent art and visual culture, based at freie universität, berlin; an associate of harvard’s davis center for russian and eurasian studies; and a member of aica. in 2025/26, i am the graduate curatorial intern at the busch-reisinger museum.

contact: luisemoerke [at] gmail [dot] com
photo by maximilien luc proctor