Darren Wershler

Bio

Darren Wershler is assistant professor in the Communication Studies department at Wilfrid Laurier University, part of the faculty at the CFC Media Lab TELUS Interactive Art & Entertainment Program, and a Research Affiliate of the IP Osgoode Intellectual Property Law & Technology Program. His most recent book is The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting (Cornell UP, 2007). He has written or co-written five other books about technology and culture, and three books of poetry, including apostrophe (with Bill Kennedy), the first book ever written with a search engine. Forthcoming books include a book on Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg and the first monograph on the work of Kenneth Goldsmith.

Abstract

The poetics of uncreativity

Will read from "status update" and "apostrophe", texts generated from a custom-built Google search application and Facebook and Twitter RSS feeds respectively, and discuss them in terms of the poetics of uncreativity and conceptual writing. Discussion will include reference to and critique of recent theories of affective and "immaterial" labour.