Brown excavates relations between assemblage theory in the social sciences and assemblage practice, focusing on the ways that assembly (in the visual, plastic, and discursive arts) can complicate and clarify the theoretical conversation. He assembles the work of Robert Rauschenberg, William Burroughs, Noah Purifoy, Theaster Gates, Rina Banerjee, and Tan Lin into a conversation that is newly compelling for our time. Biography Bill Brown is the Deputy Provost for the Arts and Karla Scherer Distinguished Service Professor in American Culture at the University of Chicago, where he teaches in the Department of English, Visual Arts, and the College. He is a principal investigator for The Object Cultures Project within the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory, and has been a co-editor of the University of Chicago’s journal of art, culture, and politics, Critical Inquiry. He has published award-winning essays and books that engage the literary, visual, and plastic arts, and has served as Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division, Chair of the Department of English, and Deputy Dean of the Humanities. Participating Units: Arts + Design Initiative, Department of English; Townsend Center for the Humanities