Calvin Olsen (he/him/his)

Research and Instruction Assistant

NC State University

Description of Work:

I am currently a third-year doctoral student in the Communication, Rhetoric, & Digital Media program at NC State University. With a background in creative writing and English literature, most of my current research lands somewhere among the intersections of electronic literature, visual/bodily rhetoric, the medical humanities, and all things Frankenstein (to name a few).

I am particularly interested in materiality (thing-ness, for lack of a more confusing explanation) and how the human body reacts to deliberately-designed spaces, places, and texts. I’m still working to narrow down my scope a bit, but here are two examples of current projects that illustrate what I’m attempting to corral: (1) I am writing a journal article that analyzes the architecture of a hospital entryway to see if its visual components create (or presents, or at least adds to) an environment of wellness, and (2) I helped design and build a touch interface using conductive paint (paint that conducts electricity) that can generate readings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein on a computer screen when someone touches the paint.

Most of my other work is centered on critical making (learning through creating things) and digital humanities. And when I’m not nerding out about one or all of these, I write poetry and translate the work of João Luís Barreto Guimarães, a poet-surgeon from Portugal.

Contact: colsenv @ncsu.edu | http://Calvin-olsen.com | @cal_olsen (Twitter)