EDUCATION
2019-Present PhD Candidate, Communication & Culture
York University, Toronto
Supervisor: Dr. David Cecchetto
2012-13 Master of Arts, Aural and Visual Cultures, First Class Distinction
Goldsmiths College, University of London
Dissertation title: The Crowded Mouth: Woman, Virtuosity and the Voice
Supervisor: Kodwo Eshun
2008-12 Bachelor of Arts, Art History (Major), English Literature, Communication Studies (Minors), Distinction
McGill University, Montreal
AWARDS
2022-23 SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
2021-22 Ontario Graduate Scholarship
2020-21 Ontario Graduate Scholarship
2020 Ioan Davies Award
2019-20 York Graduate Scholarship
2012-13 Goldsmiths International Postgraduate Scholarship
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Sound, gender, performance, critical theory, digital culture, contemporary art, communication, media history, visual cultures, music, cinema, popular culture.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2021-22 Teaching Assistant, York University
Advertising: Media and the Development of Consumer Culture (COMN 3700); Advertising, Culture, and Society (COMN 3701)
2019-21 Teaching Assistant, York University
Introduction to Communication (COMN 1000)
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
2021 TA Certificate in Teaching (TACT), York University
PUBLICATIONS, PEER REVIEWED
Borkowski, Alex.“Echoic Re-presencing: Towards A Feminist Media Archaeological Listening.” [openwork] 1, no. 1 (accepted).
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS, NON-PEER REVIEWED
Neville, Stephen and Alex Borkowski. “Broken Domestication: the resonant politics of voice in gendered technology.” The Handbook of Domestication, edited by Maren Hartmann, New York: Routledge, 2022 (forthcoming).
Borkowski, Alex. “Gender, Media, and Voice, by Jilly Boyce Kay.” Book Review. Journal of Radio & Audio Media. (April 2021). DOI: 10.1080/19376529.2021.1905927
Borkowski, Alex. “Occult Auscultations.” –empire– soft-skinned space. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, March 2020. Invited contribution to listserv discussion.
Borkowski, Alex.“The Sonic Episteme, by Robin James,” Book Review, Journal of Radio & Audio Media (September 2020). DOI: 10.1080/19376529.2020.1816279
Borkowski, Alex.“Moyra Davey.” Book Review, Prefix Photo, November 2019.
Borkowski, Alex. “Iris Haussler.” Exhibition Review, Canadian Art,March 21, 2019. https://canadianart.ca/reviews/iris-haussler/
Borkowski, Alex.“Colleen Wolstenholme: A Propos Obsolescence,” in Invitation (September-October 2018). https://artmur.com/wp-content/uploads/brochures/vol14_numero1.pdf
Borkowski, Alex.“Here/There: Telepresence, Touch and Art at the Interface, by Kris Paulsen.” Book Review. Prefix Photo, May 2017.
Borkowski, Alex. “Jon Rafman: Nine Eyes.” Book Review. Prefix Photo, November 2016.
Borkowski, Alex.“After London; or Apparitions of nested time.” KAPSULA, August 2016.
Borkowski, Alex. “Song of the Digital Flesh: Vocal Manipulation & Our Cyborg Selves,” The Quietus (May 15, 2014), https://thequietus.com/articles/15223-vocal-manipulation-holly-herndon-burial-katie-gately.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Borkowski, Alex. “A Man, or a Robot, or Both”: Elizabeth Holmes’ Incomputable Voice.” Intersections | Cross-sections 2022, York University and X University, March 18, 2022.
Borkowski, Alex. “Voicing Neural Networks: AI in/as Performance.” Contingent Systems: Art and/as Algorithmic Critique, Alberta University of the Arts, October 29, 2021.
Borkowski, Alex. “If I Had a Voice I Would Sing”: Inhumanisms, Plasticity, and Pop Music.” Intersections | Cross-sections 2021, York University and X University, March 13, 2021.
Borkowski, Alex.“Echoic Re-presencing: Towards A Feminist Media Archaeological Listening.”22nd Annual FSAC Graduate Colloquium, York University, Toronto,February 28, 2020.
Borkowski, Alex. ““I Just Don’t Get This Whole Gender Thing”: Femininity, Vocality, and Communication Technology.”FLASH Symposium: Pursuing Critical Media & Technology Studies, X University, Toronto, November 5, 2019.
Borkowski, Alex.“Vocal Corruption: cybernetics and the automated female voice.”Annual Graduate Philosophy Conference, University of Western England, Bristol, April 2014.
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
Guest Lecture. “Gendering Smart Technology.” COMN 3701: Advertising, Culture and Society. York University, Toronto, March 24, 2022.
Working Paper Presentation. “Voicing Neural Networks: AI in/as Performance.” X University Sound Studies Collective. X University, Toronto, December 3, 2021.
Guest Lecture. “Echoic Re-presencing: Towards A Feminist Media Archaeological Listening.” CMCT 6119: Contemporary Perspective on Sound. York University, Toronto, November 17, 2021.
Guest Lecture. “Voicing Siri and Alexa: AI, Labour and Performance.” ARTH 4610: The Senses in Art. York University, Toronto, September 29, 2021.
ARTISTIC AND CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2018-2019 The Hydrocephalus Suite
Text and sound works exhibited online at ilyd.nu (November 2018), included in group exhibitions I’m in the bath on all fours, toward blue water (my nose is bleeding) at Well Projects, Margate (April-May 2019), and the plumb, Toronto (July 2021).
2015-2018 Vital Plastics
Text published in The Happy Hypocrite, Vol.8, edited by Sofia Al-Maria (2015), 34-35; sound artwork included in HIGH ON TIME THE VOICE BOX HEAVED program, curated by SHELL LIKE at Artsadmin, London (2018).
2015-16 Reading Matter
Program of collective, durational readings of avant-garde texts, co-curated with Fer Boyd at Five Years Gallery, London; text published in How to Read: Writing Groups. How to Write: Reading Groups, edited by Edward Dorrian. London: Public Series Editions (2016), 212-221.