Graham Harman is Distinguished University Professor at the American University in Cairo, where he has worked since 2000. He is a founding member of the well-known Speculative Realism movement, and the chief exponent (since the late 1990’s) of object-oriented philosophy. He is the 2009 winner of the AUC Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award, and a frequent international lecturer. In 2013, he was ranked as the #81 most influential figures in the international art world by Art Review magazine. He is the author of twelve books, most recently Bells and Whistles: More Speculative Realism (2013) and Bruno Latour: Reassembling the Political (forthcoming 2014). He is the editor of the Speculative Realism book series at Edinburgh University Press, and (with Bruno Latour) co-editor of the New Metaphysics book series at Open Humanities Press.
Harman received his undergraduate degree from the classical liberal arts program at St. John’s College, Annapolis (1990). His Master’s Degree was done at Penn State (1991) under the renowned philosopher Alphonso Lingis, and focused on Levinas. He completed his Ph.D. at DePaul University in Chicago (1999), with a dissertation that became his first book. While finishing his doctoral studies, he worked as a Chicago sportswriter from 1996-98. In September 2000 he began work in the Department of Philosophy at the American University in Cairo. Egypt has become his base for travel to more than 60 countries and the composition of ten books in less than a decade.
Mark Foster Gage (respondent) is Assistant Dean and Associate Professor with tenure at the Yale School of Architecture, where he has been on the faculty since 2001.He is a recognized innovator in the fields of architecture and design. His pioneering designs combining architectural practice with digital technologies, advanced materials, and emerging media platforms have been widely exhibited in institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, and featured in the press in venues such as Vogue, Wired, Fast Company, The New York Times, USA Today, PBS and MTV.
