My project on bureaucratic fiction is slowly coming to an end, but the conferences are not: next week, in Paris, I'm presenting on Benjamin Fondane's practice of writing drafts on the back of insurance forms. First talk at the Sorbonne! Full program here: univ-droit.fr/recherche/ac...

Listen der Verwaltung (27.–29.5.; Wien) cenex.net/listen-der-v...

Thrilled to present work done in collaboration with Jonathan Foster on the literary history of algorithmic governance at the upcoming conference of the CST (Center for Science and Thought) @unibonn.bsky.social Program and details here: www.desirableai.com/events/irrat...

The Office for Joint Administrative Intelligence (O.J.A.I.) streamed the latest installment of their ongoing investigation into music produced from within and around bureaucratic systems. I am somewhere in it, along with fellow bureaucritic Jonathan Foster and poet laureate Alexandria Peary.

Detail from Alexander Kluge's installation "Ontime/Offtime" (2024), currently on display at Lenbachhaus in Munich.

The EU now has its own publishing platform, Open Research Europe, that functions like a journal free to both authors and readers for all EU-funded research, across all disciplines. Open peer review (!) No author fees No paywalls Fast publication process Indexation open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu

What a nice surprise: my review of @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social's "The Rise of Office Literature" made it into the print version of Critical Inquiry -- and it's in great company! @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social Have a look at the Spring 2026 issue:

today and tomorrow in Munich, curious where this takes us

In Figures of Radical Absence I argue that empty signifiers are frequently used as tools of political contestation, which is why you see them so often in acts of protest and institutional critique. All that to say: always cool to see empty books making the news www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

this year marks Foucault's centenary -- a good occasion to share this call with French-speaking doctoral students interested in his work. imec-archives.com/qui-sommes-n...

⏳ Thrilled to co-host this two-day panel with Karolin Schäffer at the ACLA annual in Montreal! Eight contributions will unpack a wide range of literary case-studies which illustrate the objectification of office workers. www.acla.org/conference/s... 1/2

Had a great time yesterday in Brussels at this workshop on faces and figures of administration (mis)handling all sorts of European political crises, 16th to 21st century -- thanks, @ferrerbartomeu.bsky.social, for the impeccable organisation!

Issue #6 of Bureaucritics is out now! Catch up with the latest in art, fiction, and scholarship about bureaucracy. bureaucritics.substack.com/p/cultural-b... #newsletter #bureaucracy #administration #officeliterature #bureaucraticfiction #parliaments

so thrilled about this! www.romania-insider.com/romania-gues...

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write: Die Zeit published a long-form piece featuring my research. Many thanks to Katharina Meyer zu Eppendorf and to everyone who, directly and indirectly, made this possible. www.zeit.de/campus/2026-...

🗞️ Lesenswertes @zeitonline.bsky.social-Porträt der Literaturwissenschaftlerin @alexandrairim.bsky.social (ehem. KWI Int Fellow), die äußerst erfolgreich Bürokratie beforscht. Artikel (Paywall): www.zeit.de/campus/2026-...

13 is your lucky number? Become part of KWI’s 13th International Fellowship cohort and apply by 28 Feb 2026! We invite #Postdoc scholars in the #humanities, #socialsciences, or #culturalstudies to join us at KWI from 1 Oct 26 until 31 Mar 27. 📢 Call: www.kulturwissenschaften.de/wp-content/u...

on the visual representations of parliamentarism in Europe (in French & German) kgparl.de/tagung-visue...

I answered some questions about my #research for @unibonn.bsky.social, so now this short #interview exists: www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/in-t... (German version below) Thanks, as always, to the @humboldt-foundation.de for the support! #postdoc #complit #bureaucraticfiction #sciencecommunication

soon in Heidelberg, on the last talk for the project this conference season! 🍂

#Conference ARCHITECTURE AND BUREAUCRACY As part of the FWF project ‘Invisible Agents’, the conference is convened by the IHB and the Institute of Art History at CAS and will take place on 6 and 7 November 2025 at the PSK-Building, 1010 Vienna. See more ⬇️ www.oeaw.ac.at/ihb/detail/e...

#KWIonTour: @schalkewins.bsky.social & @awierzock.bsky.social are giving presentations at the workshop “Temporary Intensities. Ephemeral Media, Practices, and Archives” @unituebingen.bsky.social. Also participating: our ex-fellows @alexandrairim.bsky.social & Ádám Havas. ✨ 🔗 tinyurl.com/4kavv67d

next week in Tübingen, looking at ephemeral media, practices, and archives with @schalkewins.bsky.social, @awierzock.bsky.social, @takapp.bsky.social & her emerging research network on ephemeral epistemologies and encounters www.ephemeralnetwork.com

the fun begins tomorrow — grateful to everyone involved, I couldn't have made it happen without you!

I guess now's as good a time as there will ever be to unearth an article I wrote about Krazsnahorkai's and Tarr's Sátántangó before it was cool. Then again, it's always been cool. #Nobel #Krasznahorkai #Satantango www.ekphrasisjournal.ro/docs/R1/20E1...

Jonathan and I wrote about the fantasy of total efficiency, algorithmic governance, and the bureaucratic horror story as a recurring fictional trope — thank you, KWI Blog team, for hosting the piece!

next week at the University of Cologne we're looking at how literature engages with Niklas Luhmann's concept of organizational "boundary roles"

Bureaucritics #5 is now online! It brings along a busy stretch of new publications, from the just-printed to the just-planned, plus fresh calls for papers and events.

The international #symposium Files, Forms, Fictions is turning into a real thing! Browse through the full program and learn more about the event at filesformsfictions.com. Thank you, @humboldt-foundation.de & @unibonn.bsky.social, for all your support! #bureaucraticfiction #comparativeliterature

"Jenkin-Smith brings to his readers’ attention authors and periodicals that literary histories have meanwhile discarded or longtime ignored." Alexandra Irimia on Daniel Jenkin-Smith's The Rise of Office Literature, from @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social: criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/alexandra_ir...

ACLA Seminar on the Objectification of Office Workers, co-organized with Karolin Schäfer Feb 26 - Mar 1, 2026, Montreal Submissions (abstracts max. 1500 characters, bios max. 500) are open on the ACLA platform by Oct 2. Accepted seminars notified by Dec. 2. www.acla.org/seminar/3ebf...

Just published in Critical Inquiry: my review of @dcjenkin-smith.bsky.social’s book "The Rise of Office Literature"—a most pleasant read that gave me a lot to think with. Thanks for the review copy, @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social! criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/alexandra_ir...

Bureaucratic Modernism is curious to hear your ideas! DL: Nov 15📩 Full call here: call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/08/... @moderniststudies.bsky.social @fimassociation.bsky.social @modernism-asia.bsky.social @modernistudies.bsky.social @mmodernity.bsky.social

We've just hit "Publish" on Bureaucritics #4!📬 Check out our summer dispatch on the latest in bureaucracy studies, and don't forget to subscribe if you're so inclined.

Snippets of West German bureaucracy from the 1970s. [gelatin silver prints from the exhibition Jupp Darchinger: The Eye of the Republic [Das Auge der Republik], LVR-Landesmuseum, open June 12 - September 14, 2025]

The French fascination for the curious life and paper forms of bureaucracy endures. Here, screenshots from Messieurs les ronds-de-cuir (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1959), one of 4 film adaptations of Georges Courteline's 1893 eponymous novel. #bureaucraticfiction #officenovel #bureaucratcomedy

It's only fitting that a special issue about administrative aesthetics comes out with some delay. Vol. 8 of Administory - co-edited with Jonathan Foster, Burkhardt Wolf, and Stefan Nellen is now published in Open Access! Find our intro and 17 fantastic contributions here: sciendo.com/issue/ADHI/8/1

I finished my guest lecture at Uni Konstanz and walked away with an unexpected gift. It will stay on my desk for a while. Plus: a sharp audience, good conversations, most useful feedback. Thanks to all involved, it's truly been a pleasure!

Stellenausschreibung: Für das Archiv des Fritz-Hüser-Instituts für Literatur und Kunst der Arbeitswelt suchen wir eine:n Archivar:in in Vollzeit, unbefristet, TVöD 11. Bitte teilen und an Interessierte weiterleiten, die gern in einem tollen im Team arbeiten wollen. #Stellenausschreibung #Archiv

Thank you, GCSC - International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture @jlugiessen.bsky.social, for a fantastic on conference on Acts of Writing: Cultural Practices, Knowledge Construction, Authorship! It was nice meeting you and hearing about so many fascinating research projects in the making.

Die Akte/n. Hg. v. Peter Plener & Burkhardt Wolf. Heidelberg, Berlin: Metzler (Print) & Springer Nature (online, Open Access) 2025. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

#Italian #bureaucratic #fiction Dr. Ciro Amendola (a pun on "Mr. Amendment") is no ordinary civil servant. As director of Italy’s Gazzetta Ufficiale—the nation’s official law journal—he stands at the critical junction where legislation becomes reality.

Fantastic panel on impersonality in literature and the arts yesterday, at the annual meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association. A huge thanks to everyone involved! #acla #acla2025 #impersonality #bureaucraticmodernism #bureaucraticfiction #comparativeliterature #complit

Had a great time last week in Vienna, at the Bureaugraphies workshop on cultures of protocol. I talked about Habsburg protocols and wartime bureaucracy records in "Forest of the Hanged". More about the project, here: bureaugraphies.univie.ac.at?page_id=22

My first article in Scena9 (in Romanian, but easily translatable in your browser), on the populist instrumentation of anti-bureaucratic sentiment in the context of the presidential elections coming up this weekend. www.scena9.ro/article/biro...

Romania's December elections have now been officially un-un-cancelled, after today's higher court cancelled yesterday's surprise cancellation of the initial cancellation. Follow us for more electoral thrills and judicial ping-pong 🍿

An interesting piece by Sage Anderson on writing without end, for the KWI Blog @kwi-essen.bsky.social blog.kulturwissenschaften.de/self-limitin...

a talented friend published a moving book review on Lit Hub lithub.com/a-literary-d...

Are you a researcher in Germany and would like to get a postdoc position abroad or go on a sabbatical? This fellowship finances your research stay with members of the Humboldt Network abroad for 6 to 24 months, up to 12 years after you completed your PhD! www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/i...