Education
PhD, Art History
2022 – Present
Thesis: on the convergence of cybernetics and aesthetics, primarily in France, 1960s–1980s.
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON · GPA: 4.3 (A+)
Awards & Fellowships:
- Department of Art History Doctoral Scholarship 2022
- Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences 2022
- Junior Fellowship in Residence at Massey College 2022–2027
- Letterpress Printing Apprentice in the Massey College Bib Room 2023
- FAST Scholarship (previously titled the France IDC Scholarship) 2023
- SSHRC CGS-D Doctoral Fellowship 2023–2026
- Moira Whalon Prize: “recognizes Junior Fellows at Massey College who more than anyone have embodied the spirit and the ethos of the college” 2024
- Graduate Research Fellow at the Centre for Culture and Technology, University of Toronto 2025–2026
- FAST Scholarship (previously titled the France IDC Scholarship) 2026–2027
- Graduate Fellow at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society 2026–2027
Postgraduate Certificate: Jnanapravaha Institute
2024
“Aesthetics, Culture, Technology,” online, Winter Semester
Master of Arts, Art History
2020 – 2022
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON · GPA: 4.15
Awards:
- Arthur B. McDonald Prize for Academic Excellence ($15,000) – turned down 2020–2021
- Tri-Council Recipient Recognition Award ($5,000) 2020–2021
- SSHRC J.-A. Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship ($17,500) 2020–2021
- DAAD Scholarship for Short Term Research in Germany (turned down due to COVID-19) Aug 2021
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) ($15,000) 2021–2022
- David Edney Research Travel Award, Paris, France 2022
Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Art History Major, Philosophy Minor
2015 – 2020
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON · GPA of Art History Major: 3.9
University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, Exchange Semester 2018
Awards:
- Dean’s Honour List 2015–2020
- Degree with Distinction 2020
- Arts and Science Undergraduate Research Fund Award ($470) 2019
- Blakely Family International Study Award ($2,700) 2017
- Mary and John Barnett Admission Scholarship ($2,000) 2015
Research Work
Research Assistant, Supervised by Dr. Elizabeth Harney, University of Toronto
2023 – Present
Collected articles and information for a book publication; coordinated getting image and text reprint rights; co-organized art symposiums
Research Assistant, Supervised by Dr. Goldman, University of Toronto
2023 – 2025
Primary coordinator with contributors for a book publication; managing timeline documents and contributor documents; editorial work
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Practicum Student, Supervised by Dr. Kerr
May – July 2021
Conducted research regarding net.art acquisition and exhibition, explored frameworks for possibility of net.art exhibition at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Graduate Research Fellowship, Supervised by Dr. Kennedy, Queen’s University
2021
Collected and organized data related to born-digital preservation projects and symposia working to establish a history of early computer and born digital media and art
Publications and Presentations
Metahaven, Ben Pulver, and Giulia Colletti. “Adverse/Aerial: Unlikelihood from Verse to Orbit.” Co-authored article developed from the panel at Adversarial Poetry. Metahaven, Substack, October 13, 2026.
Pulver, Ben, with Metahaven; chaired by Giulia Colletti. “Adverse/Aerial: Unlikelihood from Verse to Orbit,” panel at Adversarial Poetry: Critical Humanities and the Limits of Artificial Intelligence, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy, October 2, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Modelling Topological Uncertainty: Towards a Situationist and Pataphysical Critique of a Cybernetic Worldview,” paper presented at Dysphoria Mundi, Venice Biennale Sessions, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy, September 28, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Commentaries: The Task of Thinking and Theory between the Digital and the Analog in the Age of AI.” Interview with Alexander Galloway. Technophany, Commentaries, Research Network for Philosophy and Technology, September 17, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Commentaries: ‘We have to think about becoming incompatible.’” Interview with Sarah Sharma. Technophany, Commentaries, Research Network for Philosophy and Technology, August 24, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Noisy Images—Kitsch, Cybernetics, and AI” paper presented at Noisy Systems: Aesthetics, Epistemology, Computation, Max Planck Institute, Rome, Italy, June 4, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Cybernetic Images and Imaginaries,” lecture and zine publication for New Heretics, House of Annetta, London, England, May 4, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Beyond the Human… Neural Networks, Turtles, and Choreographies for the Future between Cybernetics and AI,” Junior Fellow Lecture Series, Massey College, University of Toronto, February 26, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Computers, Art, Kitsch: from Abraham Moles to AI Slop,” Monday Night Seminar at the Centre for Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, Canada. February 9, 2026.
Pulver, Ben. “Art Ex Machina, an Art for the Future (or, the Future of Art).” Presentation for Art History Department Lecture Series. Toronto, Canada. October 24, 2025.
Sacks, Kim, Lartigaud, David-Olivier, Le Roux, Ronan, Pulver, Benjamin. « Art et cybernétique : de l’information et du calcul comme médium », in Chomarat-Ruiz, Catherine (dir.), Cycle de conférences/rencontres avec des chercheurs (5), Revue Design Arts Medias, 06/2025, URL: https://journal.dampress.org/en/words/cycle-de-conferences-rencontres-avec-des-chercheurs-5/art-et-cybernetique-de-l-information-et-du-calcul-comme-medium
Pulver, Ben. “La Tortue dans la Machine — Notes Spéculatives vers une Mnémosyne Cybernétique de la Tortue.” Presentation in French for Sorbonne Paris 1, Cycle de Conférénces: “Art et Cybernétique de L’Information et de Calcul Comme Médium.” Paris, France. February 12, 2025.
Pulver, Ben. “Fashioning Enemies of the State: Investigating Sartorial Subversion in Soviet States.” Presentation at Inquiry@Queen’s Undergraduate Research Conference, Kingston, ON, April 15, 2020.
Conference Organizing
Organizing Committee, Massey Arts Committee 2026
2026 – Present
Helping to organize a conference at Massey College in Toronto on the subject of art-making in the age of AI, set for Fall 2026
Organizing Committee, Wolleson Journal and Symposium
2022 – 2024
Helping to organize and review, edit submissions for the Wolleson symposium in the art history department, University of Toronto
Co-Chair, Context & Meaning, Graduate Student Conference
2021 – 2022
Co-organized the Queen’s University graduate-run art history conference; managed an executive committee and completed administrative tasks: organized funding, keynote speaker, and logistics
Selected Exhibitions, Journal & Magazine Publications
Zine and lecture for New Heretics, House of Annetta, London, England
2026
“All that is Solid” shown at the Talking Walls Exhibition, Hart House, University of Toronto
2023
“Seeing Double, in Chicago” short poem, photo-collage — selected for Arbor Room Magazine
2023
“Whispers from Notes Afoot & Why I Became a Vegetarian out of Confusion” in Audeamus, 2024 Spring Edition
2024
“Annotations of a Spotted Mind” with Dela Farzanfar in Audeamus, 2024 Spring Edition
2024
