Mark Olson
Associate Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Mark J. V. Olson is Associate Professor of the Practice of Visual & Media Studies at Duke University and a founding member of the Wired! Lab. His research and teaching focus on the historical and contemporary entanglements of medical practice and media technologies, as well as on the affordances of emerging technologies for the analysis and exhibition of historical material culture. He is currently collaborating with the Nasher Museum of Art on expanding their engagements with interactive media and developing an infrastructure for constructing immersive virtual exhibition experiences. He also collaborates with Duke’s History of Medicine Collection and Department of Radiology on the micro-CT scanning and digital reconstruction of Duke’s ivory manikin collection.
More broadly, Olson is interested in cultivating literacies in “critical making”—drawing on the critical and analytic repertoires of the theoretical and historical humanities while cultivating a deep understanding of and proficient practice with computational media, from code to circuit design to photogrammetry. A longtime contributor to the field of digital humanities, Olson is the former Director of New Media & Information Technologies for HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Sciences & Technology Advanced Collaboratory) and the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary & International Studies. He received his MA and PhD in Communication Studies and graduate certificate in Cultural Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Preferred pronouns: he, him, his
Office Hours
Regular office hours resume in Fall 2022.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Associate Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2021
- Director of Graduate Studies of the MA in Digital Art History/Computational Media, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2022
- Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, Duke Science & Society, Initiatives 2017
- Core Faculty in Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Initiatives 2018
Contact Information
- 114 South Buchanan Blvd, A262a Smith Warehouse, Bay 10, Durham, NC 27708
- Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708-0766
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mark.olson@duke.edu
(919) 613-6726
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Professional Portfolio
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