Centre for Culture and Technology - University of Toronto

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Centre for Culture and Technology - University of Toronto

The Centre for Culture and Technology is an institute of the UofT Faculty of Information

The McLuhan Centre for Culture and Technology is an initiative of the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto that aims to extend the ground-breaking work initiated by the Canadian thinker Marshall McLuhan into new terrain. The Centre fosters and supports innovative scholarship, interdisciplinary research and public discourse, specifically within the fields of culture, media and societ

y, all in keeping with the tradition of the Toronto School of Communication. Visit our website to take a look at current research and upcoming events taking place at the Centre.

04/08/2026

The Centre for Culture and Technology is proud to present its third annual Fellows Day Conference on Thursday, April 16th. This all-day event at the Centre’s Coach House convenes our 2025-26 Artist-in-Residence, 𝗫𝘂𝗮𝗻 𝗬𝗲, and our Visiting Faculty Fellows: 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝗿 (CUNY), 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗵𝘂𝗮 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗹(the New School), and 𝗟𝘂𝗸𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗸 (Western University).

Following a talk by the Artist-in-Residence, the Fellows will present new scholarship engaging with the Centre’s annual programming theme, “Artificial Stupidity”, in conversation with Ye’s solo exhibition 𝙀𝙍𝙍𝙊𝘼𝙍! presented at the Centre in September 2025.

🔗 For details about the speakers and for free registration, visit the link in our bio

🥂 After the conference, join us on the patio of the U of T Faculty Club (41 Willcocks St.) for a celebratory reception to close our programming year! Food & drink will be served. Come by between 6:30-8:30PM; register for the reception at the link in bio.

** Please note: due to a film production, the Alumni Hall parking lot where the Centre’s Coach House is open will be closed. The building can still be accessed on foot; we recommend entering via the pathway off of St. Joseph St. by the Kelly Library.

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Slide 2: Xuan Ye, 𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘖𝘈𝘙! 04 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤 (2019/25). Installation detail at the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto (2025), photo by Xuan Ye.

Slide 3: Xuan Ye, 𝘌𝘙𝘙𝘖𝘈𝘙! 05 - 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘎𝘶𝘵𝘴 (2019/25). Installation detail at the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto (2025), photo by Xuan Ye.

04/06/2026

Our final Monday Night Seminar of this programming year is led by CCT Faculty Research Fellow Lauren Cramer (Cinema Studies Institute):

“𝗦𝗼, 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘿𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩”

“A (somewhat) self-aware talk on the pleasures non-replicable research and revision in my current project, 𝘈 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘑𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵: 𝘏𝘪𝘱-𝘏𝘰𝘱 𝘝𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 & 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.”

🔗 Registration link in bio

03/27/2026

Workshop: “𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘔𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘈 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘮”
April 8 | 6-9PM
39A Queens Park Crescent E
 Facilitated by Rebekka Parker & Jason Burton

“It’s familiar to say that art “moves” us, implying an experience in the realm of personal, private mood and emotion. What more can we understand about the force and direction of art - it’s power to hone awareness, sustain curiosity, deepen emotional capacity, carry histories, foster sincere connection, and mobilize community-building? We’ll use discussion, skill-building exercises, and even a bit of role play to explore the transformative nature of art through the lenses (and scopes) of personal practice and Museum Studies.”
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𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗮 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿 is a museum educator, arts programmer, and interdisciplinary artist, serving as Adult Program and Tour Manager at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado.

𝗝𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻 is a Toronto based artist and educator, and current Luddite in Residence at the Centre for Culture and Technology.
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🔗 Registration link in bio

03/16/2026

Our Monday Night Seminar on March 23 will be led by CCT Faculty Fellow Patrick Keilty (Faculty of Information, Cinema Studies):

𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦: 𝘈𝘐’𝘴 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘴

“Unstable Diffusion’s repository of AI po*******hy collapses distinctions between creator and consumer in our engagement with po*******hy and replicate models of capitalist exchange value.”

🔗Registration link in bio

03/13/2026

Please join us at the Centre’s Coach House on February 16 for 𝘐𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, a Monday Night Seminar led by CCT Director Scott Richmond.

In this lecture-performance, Scott Richmond presents his own creative coding & graphic works. This event will be part artist talk, part scholarly research in the history of computing, part digital theory, and part creative coding lesson. We’ll talk about thirteenth-century Scandanavian monks, 1970s computer education, census tables, the Manhattan project, Vera Molnár, Sol LeWitt, Alvin Lucier, and psychoanalysis.

🔗 Registration link in bio

03/04/2026

Please join us at the Centre’s Coach House for a Monday Night Seminar led by CCT Graduate Fellow Mathew Iantorno:

“This Monday Night Seminar will peer into the aisle of the supermarket to discuss how algorithmic systems have been deployed to optimize the in-store labour performed by customers. Self-service has a long history in the United States and Canada, from the rolling out of the first grocery carts in the 1930s to early experiments with self-checkouts in the 1990s. Today, in pursuit of completely de-staffing stores, major retailers such as Amazon and Starbucks have turned to the power of the algorithm. Smartphone apps, digital sensors, and AI-powered platforms have been increasingly used to thwart theft and enforce in-store labour—with some stores going as far as forcing visitors to sign an online terms of service agreement before entering. This presentation interrogates this transposition of platform logics onto in-person shopping experiences, drawing from extensive onsite documentation of recent self-service experiments in Toronto, Canada.”

🔗 Registration link in bio

02/27/2026

⇢ CALL FOR APPLICATIONS EXTENDED: the application deadline for Computer Class has been extended to 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟱, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲.

Regarding the program fee, we would like to emphasize that 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, and our goal is to turn no one away for financial reasons. Please don’t hesitate to email [email protected] if you have any questions, and visit computerclass.ca for more details. ⇠
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> Computer Class is a one-week seminar-style institute at the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto for graduate students and practitioners in artistic, humanistic, and social-scientific fields who are interested in coding, computer history, and critical use of technology.

> Computer Class brings us back to primary school. We play, dream, doodle, futz, make, break, and debug computer programs. We draw pictures with code. We make our own chatbots. We read theory and philosophy and psychoanalysis. We work with primary documents from the history of computing. We learn new ways of getting on with these strange machines we call computers. We also decide how we spend our time together: Computer Class is participant-driven, dedicated to the question of what we actually want to do with our computers—and how to expand our desire for, with, and around computers.

> All are welcome to apply, but priority will be given to humanities and fine arts graduate students. Computer Class is targeted towards students in terminal degree programs, such as MFA or PhD programs. Participants should have substantial interest in digital media culture or aesthetics, the history of computing, creative, or expressive coding, media theory, critical code studies, or other relevant artistic or humanistic research practice.

🔗 Learn more at computerclass.ca.

02/19/2026

We’re excited to announce our full programming for 𝙂𝙇𝙄𝙏𝘾𝙃 / 𝙎𝙏𝙄𝙏𝘾𝙃 / 𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙄𝙎𝙏: 𝘼 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣, an interdisciplinary culture and technology-focused symposium event taking place at The Coach House on February 26th and 27th. Salon events include graduate student panels, a community-engaged workshop, a networking event with lightning talks (held off-site at the Faculty of Information, no registration required), and a keynote presentation by Dr. Kai Recollet, Associate Professor of Women & Gender Studies. Breakfast and lunch catering will be included for all registrants.

🔗 See the eventbrite page for details, schedule, and registration: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩-𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩-𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵.𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦

02/04/2026

The Centre for Culture and Technology invites applications for an inaugural cohort of 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀. The Centre is deepening its programming to support research creation work at the University of Toronto. The Centre has been dedicated to arts-based inquiry for some time; in the 2026 calendar year, we hope to involve research creationists of any medium and discipline, in any department, to join us in our critical investigation of contemporary computational media and culture.

The RC Fellowship will run through the 2026 calendar year—winter, summer, and fall terms of 2026. Fellows will propose, plan, realize, and exhibit work related to their dissertation. Fellows will receive substantial support from Centre staff, including the Centre’s Director, Curator, Art & Technology Coordinator, Community Manager, and Luddite in Residence.

Students must have advanced to candidacy at time of application (i.e., the dissertation proposal must have been approved). Students from any department or program on any campus of the University of Toronto are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to candidates with projects that intersect with the Centre’s research mission in reckoning with contemporary computational media and culture, but we welcome all applications. We especially welcome applications from candidates from marginalized groups, and/or applications that aim to redress historical injustices.

Applications are due by 11:59pm on 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬, by email to [email protected].
Inquiries about this program can be sent to Scott Richmond, Director, at [email protected].

🔗 View the full call for applications, including more details about the fellowship program and the application requirements, on the Centre’s website, linked in our bio.

02/02/2026

Please join us at the Centre’s Coach House on February 9 for a Monday Night Seminar led by CCT Graduate Fellow Ben Pulver, PhD candidate in Art History and a Junior Fellow at Massey College.

Connecting the work of 1970s cybernetician Abraham Moles to the recently popularized designation of ‘AI slop’, this talk asks how we can think about this history of the sloppy, garish, or trashy ‘kitsch’ image, its politics and relationship to the emergence of early computer art.

🔗More details + registration at https://mns-ben-pulver.eventbrite.ca

01/23/2026

The Centre for Culture and Technology’s Research-Creation Group works at the intersection of creative practice and scholarly research, fostering practice-oriented inquiry among graduate students in different fields. During monthly meetings, they critically engage with work-in-progress presentations, cultivating interdisciplinary exchange and peer feedback-driven collaboration.

Join us at the Centre’s Coach House for a Monday Night Seminar on January 26. Research-Creation Group members will present their projects-in-process through a program of talks and video screenings.

🔗Details and registration at https://mns-research-creation-group.eventbrite.ca, linked in our bio.

Address

39A Queen's Park Crescent East
Toronto, ON
M5S2C3

Website

http://cultureandtech.utoronto.ca/

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