Invited Talks
Visiting Guest Lecturer, MA Photography and Society, at the Royal Academy of the Arts, the Hague, The Netherlands, Nov. 11-17, 2024.
“Weird Worlds and Otherwise.” University of Oslo School of Environmental Humanities, “Welcome to the Anthropocene” talk series. May 2nd, 2024.
“Nonbinary/Natures.” “Shifting Natures Symposium,” Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICI) Berlin, March 14-15 2024.
Recording: https://oa.ici-berlin.org/repository/doi/10.25620/e240314_11
“Nonbinary/Natures.” Critical Ecologies symposium for the annual Society for Critical Exchange, Tallahassee, FL, 2024.
Link: http://www.societyforcriticalexchange.org
“Climate Fiction Imaginaries.” LOOPS Berlin Series on Art and Science, Technische Universität Berlin, January 2024.
“Everybody Talks About the Weather.” THE NEW INSTITUTE Centre for Environmental Humanities (NICHE) in Venice. November, 2023.
Climate Fictions Talk and Workshop. Invited by Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa, Seattle University, October 21, 2023.
“Weird Queer Ecologies.” Posthumanities Hub, Linköping University, Sweden, Feb. 9, 2023.
“On Interruptions.” A performance and dialogue with Nelly Yaa Pinkrah, Obaro Ejimiwe, and Rivers Solomon, Techinsche Universität Dresden, Friday November 11, 2022.
“Feral Feminisms: A Lecture Performance and reading with Rivers Solomon,” Diffrakt: Center for Theory at the Periphery, Berlin, November 10th, 2022.
“On Weird Sisterhoods and Feminist Kinships,” Wilde Moehre Musical Festival, Brandenburg, Germany, July 2022.
“Breathing Science Fictions: Ted Chiang’s ‘Exhalation,’ Dearticulating Breath, and the Politics of the Particulate.” Heavier Than Air: Resisting the Military State, organized by Sam Dolbear, The Institute for Cultural Inquiry Berlin, June 15, 2022.
“Weird Sisters.” Part of the exhibition “Aliens are temporary,” curated by Sonia Fernández Pan, Sylvia Sadzinski and Anaïs Senli, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, May 10th 2022.
“From the Old Weird to the New: Disrupting Literary Histories.” Technische Universität Dresden, Department of North American Studies, December 8th, 2021.
“Science Fiction/Speculation/Extinction/Mutation.” FIBER Electronic Media Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 29th, 2021.
Workshop: “Listening to the Nuclear Anthropocene.” The Sound Ecologies Lab, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 29th, 2021.
“Environment in a Changed Key.” The Sound Ecologies Lab, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 25th, 2021.
“Reverse Synergy” by Mycological Twist, Athens Biennale, October 9th, 2021.
“Weird Temporalities and Ecology,” Ecology Futures Program, St. Joost Art Academy, The Netherlands, March 30, 2021.
Dialogue with Jeff VanderMeer, The Conference for the Study of the Fantastic and the Arts, March 21, Orlando, Florida, March 21, 2021.
“Weird Fiction and Ecological Thought.” American Studies Center, University of Warsaw, December 2, 2020.
“On Feminism and Pursuing a Career in Science Fiction Studies.” University of London, Science Fiction Research Group, November 24, 2020.
“Curating Climate Imaginaries” Environmental and Climate Justice Studies Conference, University of California Santa Barbara Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, Santa Barbara, CA, July 2020.
“M/Others and Future Humans” curated by Isabel de Sena. Art Laboratory Berlin, September 24th, 2020, Berlin, Germany.
Workshop: “The Queer and the Weird.” University of Ghent, May 2019.
“In Manifold.” The Opening Lecture of the Lithuanian Pavilion, Milano Triennale, Milan, Italy, April 2020.
“The New Weird.” Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Berlin, Germany, March 2019.
“Science Fiction and Ecology.” Diffrakt: Zentrum fur Theoretische Peripherie. Berlin, Germany, March 2019.
“Nuclear Afterlives: Nonhuman Embodiment in the Anthropocene.” Gerrit Reitveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, February 2019.
“The Nuclear Wild.” American Studies Center, University of Warsaw. January 2019.
Select Curatorial Work
“Rivers Solomon: A Four Day Berlin Series of Readings, Performances, and Conversations.” Featuring Tiara Roxanne, Stefanie Dunning, Nelly Y. Pinkrah, and Obaro Ejimiwe. Curated by Alison Sperling, diffrakt, Hopscotch Reading Room, TU Dresden, and Otherland Bookstore Berlin. November 10-14, 2022.
“On Interruptions.” A performance and dialogue with Nelly Yaa Pinkrah, Obaro Ejimiwe, and Rivers Solomon, Club Kwanglee, Friday November 11, 2022, co-curated by Alison Sperling and Nelly Y. Pinkrah.
“WRITING LETTERS TO EXTRATERRESTRIALS.” A 3-day symposium on science and speculative fictions and the question of radical otherness. Featuring Jenna Sutela, Juliana Huxtable, Adriana Knouf, Mary Maggic, Irina Gheorghe, COVEN Berlin, Emilija Škarnulytė, Simon/e van Saarloos, and Edna Bonhomme. Curated by Alison Sperling, funded by TU Berlin, University of Warsaw, CoFutures University of Oslo, and ICI Berlin. September 21-24, 2021.
“Queer Alien Walking Tour” Coven Collective Berlin walking tour, organized by Alison Sperling. Funded by TU Berlin, University of Warsaw, CoFutures University of Oslo, and ICI Berlin. September 21, 2021.
“Alien Shorts,” an evening of short science fiction films co-organized by Alison Sperling and diffrakt. Funded by TU Berlin, University of Warsaw, CoFutures University of Oslo, and ICI Berlin. September 22, 2021. Curated by diffrakt and Alison Sperling.
“Foreign Language for Beginners: A Performance by Irina Gheorghe.” ICI Berlin, Organized by Alison Sperling, September 1st, 2021.
“Global Weirding: A Lecture Series,” featuring Larissa Lai, Gerry Canavan, Stefanie Dunning, Rebekah Sheldon, and Andy Hageman. Technische Universität Dresden. Co-organized by Alison Sperling and Dr. Prof. Moritz Ingwerson. Fall, 2021.
“Sirenomelia: A conversation with Emilija Škarnulytė, Andrew Beardini (ArtForum) and Alison Sperling.” Hopscotch Reading Room Berlin, July 2, 2020. Organized by Alison Sperling.
“Art of Encounter: On Nonhuman Art Production.” Organized by Semâ Bekirović and ICI Berlin in cooperation with the ZK/U and supported by the Mondriaan Fund and with Daniel Liu and Alison Sperling. January 20, 2020.
“The Year’s Work in Terraforming,” with Derek Woods. Institute for Cultural Inquiry Berlin. Organized by Alison Sperling. June 12, 2019.
“On Lichens,” with Amelia Groom and Derek Woods. Diffrakt: Center for Theory at the Periphery, Organized by Alison Sperling, June 13, 2019.
“Without Winter: Curating Climate Change,” an evening with Julian Charriere, Dehlia Hannah, and Nadim Samman. ICI Berlin, March 14, 2019. Curated by Alison Sperling.
“UNBEARABLE” a 2-day international graduate conference and salon with Lee Edelman and Lauren Berlant with screenings from Sky Hopinka. Curated by Alison Sperling, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, February 2015.
“ANIMACY” a 3-day international graduate conference and salon, with Mel Y. Chen. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, February 2014. Curated by Alison Sperling.
Feminist SF talk at ArtLab Berlin, curated by Isabel de Sena:
https://www.ici-berlin.org/alison-sperling-on-feminist-sf/
Public Media Appearances
Podcast guest: NOVEL DIALOGUE with Jeff VanderMeer, Duke University and Public Books, aired 2023.
https://www.publicbooks.org/desolation-tries-to-colonize-you-jeff-vandermeer-and-alison-sperling/
Public Radio Guest: “No Kids on the Block,” Südwestrundfunk, Germany, February 2021.
Public Radio Guest: “The Legacy of H.P. Lovecraft,” IDEAS, CBC Public Broadcasting Radio Canada, February 2021.