Doug Eacho
@dougeacho.bsky.social
performance historian, prof (U of T ➡️ NUS). writing a book about automating theatre (surrealism, cybernetics, backstage tech, ai) in which i discover to much astonishment that it was capital all along.
douglaseacho.com
douglaseacho.com
will just note that I recall well a conversation from early 2022, when chatgpt was released, w two techie colleagues who'd been poking at LLMs for years. "how far can this go?" I asked. "until people start sueing them for their kid's LLM-prompted suicide" was their immediate answer.
There are no words for how evil this is
November 7, 2025 at 2:47 AM
will just note that I recall well a conversation from early 2022, when chatgpt was released, w two techie colleagues who'd been poking at LLMs for years. "how far can this go?" I asked. "until people start sueing them for their kid's LLM-prompted suicide" was their immediate answer.
colleges and universities will go bankrupt, people will lose their jobs, no one will hire, the entire canadian higher ed system will speedrun a transformation into UK austerity that no one anticipated just three years ago. all to reward racists
www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
Canada will reduce international student permits by more than half, budget reveals
“The new study permit caps further erode Canada’s reputation,” said one critic of Ottawa’s plan to next year limit new international student permits to 150,000 from a previous target of 305,900.
www.thestar.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:48 PM
colleges and universities will go bankrupt, people will lose their jobs, no one will hire, the entire canadian higher ed system will speedrun a transformation into UK austerity that no one anticipated just three years ago. all to reward racists
www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
when you sell all your things to move across the world, there are things that you are sad to sell for sentiment, and things you are sad to sell because they've depreciated so drastically.
few things combine both as effectively as our two-years-young dutch bikes, for sale in a toronto november
few things combine both as effectively as our two-years-young dutch bikes, for sale in a toronto november
October 31, 2025 at 4:43 PM
when you sell all your things to move across the world, there are things that you are sad to sell for sentiment, and things you are sad to sell because they've depreciated so drastically.
few things combine both as effectively as our two-years-young dutch bikes, for sale in a toronto november
few things combine both as effectively as our two-years-young dutch bikes, for sale in a toronto november
abramović gets more fascy with every passing year and people just lap it up. everyone loves atavistic primitivism so long as it's eastern europe and approved by a Celebrity
Twelve-foot sculptural erections; men furiously humping AstroTurf; vulva-baring dancers – Marina Abramović is unstoppable
artreview.com/what-keeps-m...
artreview.com/what-keeps-m...
What Keeps Marina Abramović Going? ‘Balkan Erotic Epic’, Reviewed
Twelve-foot sculptural erections; men furiously humping AstroTurf; vulva-baring dancers – with Balkan Erotic Epic, she’s done it again
artreview.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:10 PM
abramović gets more fascy with every passing year and people just lap it up. everyone loves atavistic primitivism so long as it's eastern europe and approved by a Celebrity
when i was at the bookstore picking up shadow ticket we got to talking nobel and i said i bet krasznahorkai would win. then the owner in all seriousness looked at me and said "oh no... you don't think it will be margaret atwood?"
anyway canada has a lot of work to do on itself
anyway canada has a lot of work to do on itself
October 9, 2025 at 12:14 PM
when i was at the bookstore picking up shadow ticket we got to talking nobel and i said i bet krasznahorkai would win. then the owner in all seriousness looked at me and said "oh no... you don't think it will be margaret atwood?"
anyway canada has a lot of work to do on itself
anyway canada has a lot of work to do on itself
clerk, immediately as I'm walking into the bookstore: "You look like you're here for Pynchon"
October 7, 2025 at 9:11 PM
clerk, immediately as I'm walking into the bookstore: "You look like you're here for Pynchon"
ok Lozano is now the fourth instance I know of of an "I'm quitting art" work of performance art: see also Suzanne Lacy, Allan Kaprow (arguable), and Tehching Hsieh.
others? i want this as a survey show now
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
others? i want this as a survey show now
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
She Didn’t Speak to Other Women for 28 Years. What Did It Cost Her?
www.nytimes.com
October 6, 2025 at 10:44 PM
ok Lozano is now the fourth instance I know of of an "I'm quitting art" work of performance art: see also Suzanne Lacy, Allan Kaprow (arguable), and Tehching Hsieh.
others? i want this as a survey show now
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
others? i want this as a survey show now
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/t...
@aislingmurph.bsky.social has it spot on with the excellent toronto production of Slave Play, and with the (unfair but undeniable) weirdness of this play in 2025. fascinating stuff.
www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/stag...
www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/stag...
Yes, Slave Play is edgy and sharp. But Canadian Stage’s landmark production is more than that
Canadian premiere of Jeremy O. Harris’s opus is devastating and raw
www.theglobeandmail.com
October 4, 2025 at 9:27 PM
@aislingmurph.bsky.social has it spot on with the excellent toronto production of Slave Play, and with the (unfair but undeniable) weirdness of this play in 2025. fascinating stuff.
www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/stag...
www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/stag...
me: the thing about toronto is it has so much easy, untapped potential
older canadian artist friend: i've heard every foreigner who moved here say that for forty years. untapped potential is just what canada does. all of you move here and get disappointed and stuck
older canadian artist friend: i've heard every foreigner who moved here say that for forty years. untapped potential is just what canada does. all of you move here and get disappointed and stuck
I think Toronto regional transit planning is really conceptually quite easy! improve the infrastructure, spam more trains, improve the infrastructure, spam more trains. Like there's not huge trade offs or mega projects you just gotta figure out how to do the basic stuff.
October 3, 2025 at 12:00 AM
me: the thing about toronto is it has so much easy, untapped potential
older canadian artist friend: i've heard every foreigner who moved here say that for forty years. untapped potential is just what canada does. all of you move here and get disappointed and stuck
older canadian artist friend: i've heard every foreigner who moved here say that for forty years. untapped potential is just what canada does. all of you move here and get disappointed and stuck
look things are very bad but also i walked into my bookstore today and reserved my copy of thomas pynchon's "shadow ticket," a real book that we get to read soon, so, in my opinion eventually humanity will make it
September 17, 2025 at 2:58 AM
look things are very bad but also i walked into my bookstore today and reserved my copy of thomas pynchon's "shadow ticket," a real book that we get to read soon, so, in my opinion eventually humanity will make it
my toddler has reached the Gollum stage of speech development
September 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
my toddler has reached the Gollum stage of speech development
With the Tessa Thompson HEDDA film coming, what are everyone's working theories of why we are living through an Ibsen Revival? even just with my undergrads it seems like they dig Ibsen more year over year.
September 9, 2025 at 2:59 PM
With the Tessa Thompson HEDDA film coming, what are everyone's working theories of why we are living through an Ibsen Revival? even just with my undergrads it seems like they dig Ibsen more year over year.
Giving a public research talk at the University of Milan next month. it will be about why crude economist historicization is, in the case of postdramatic robot/AI/machine theatre, correct.
if any of you want to tell me what to do with free time in Milan please go ahead!
if any of you want to tell me what to do with free time in Milan please go ahead!
August 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Giving a public research talk at the University of Milan next month. it will be about why crude economist historicization is, in the case of postdramatic robot/AI/machine theatre, correct.
if any of you want to tell me what to do with free time in Milan please go ahead!
if any of you want to tell me what to do with free time in Milan please go ahead!
does anyone else's university make it weirdly difficult to find out what classroom you are teaching in, or is that just us?
August 28, 2025 at 2:28 PM
does anyone else's university make it weirdly difficult to find out what classroom you are teaching in, or is that just us?
this is an amazing article (from 2015). The core argument is recapitulated in detail in her recent book, but this essay sets it within a broad survey of ideology critiques and their opponents that's missing from the book. extremely clarifying.
August 8, 2025 at 3:30 PM
this is an amazing article (from 2015). The core argument is recapitulated in detail in her recent book, but this essay sets it within a broad survey of ideology critiques and their opponents that's missing from the book. extremely clarifying.
NMES at the University of Toronto is hiring an Assoc/Full Professor in Palestinian Literature. I can vouch for an amazing group of students, broadly passionate about Palestine. spread the word!
universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...
universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...
Search Jobs - University Affairs
universityaffairs.ca
August 6, 2025 at 5:04 PM
NMES at the University of Toronto is hiring an Assoc/Full Professor in Palestinian Literature. I can vouch for an amazing group of students, broadly passionate about Palestine. spread the word!
universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...
universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...
if I could tell Teen Me one thing about sleeping with women, a thing that i DO think much mass US culture suppresses, esp. from the right: women actually do want to have sex and if you're interested you can just ask them about it and it's not a big deal
The left is completely silent on the subject of men getting laid - which, generally speaking, they are v.interested in doing and will continue to be interested in regardless of whether progressives want to talk about it. So the stage has been left entirely clear for the far-right.
August 1, 2025 at 4:10 PM
if I could tell Teen Me one thing about sleeping with women, a thing that i DO think much mass US culture suppresses, esp. from the right: women actually do want to have sex and if you're interested you can just ask them about it and it's not a big deal
the whole comment section on the NYT wilson obit is worth a read. many specific, remarkable memories. love this one
August 1, 2025 at 12:12 AM
the whole comment section on the NYT wilson obit is worth a read. many specific, remarkable memories. love this one
a more profound emblem of everything postwar wealthy-world theatre became, for better or worse, cannot be found. brilliant, mad, naive, brain-breaking, gorgeous, soporific. the western stage remains wilson's and will remain his for a long time.
July 31, 2025 at 8:15 PM
a more profound emblem of everything postwar wealthy-world theatre became, for better or worse, cannot be found. brilliant, mad, naive, brain-breaking, gorgeous, soporific. the western stage remains wilson's and will remain his for a long time.
What is the consensus on how to style "Volume 1/2/3" or "I/II/III" of Capital? Roman or Arabic numerals? Italics or no? Do I... gulp... have to write "Volume 1" for the Reitter trans (which uses the Arabic on its title page) and "Volume II" and "Volume III" for the Fernbach Penguins?
July 30, 2025 at 4:43 PM
What is the consensus on how to style "Volume 1/2/3" or "I/II/III" of Capital? Roman or Arabic numerals? Italics or no? Do I... gulp... have to write "Volume 1" for the Reitter trans (which uses the Arabic on its title page) and "Volume II" and "Volume III" for the Fernbach Penguins?
Reposted by Doug Eacho
A thread devoted to George Grosz, courageously provocative modern artist born on this day in Berlin in 1893—and one of my absolutely favorite artists. To me, Grosz is the historical artist who most captures the spirit of our current moment. Here he is in his so-called "Dada Death" costume circa 1918
July 26, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A thread devoted to George Grosz, courageously provocative modern artist born on this day in Berlin in 1893—and one of my absolutely favorite artists. To me, Grosz is the historical artist who most captures the spirit of our current moment. Here he is in his so-called "Dada Death" costume circa 1918
Pleased to announce that the TDR special issue "Still Exhausted: Labor, Digital Technologies, and the Performing Arts," which I co-edited with Catie Cuan and Sydney Skybetter, has received the 2025 Edited Work Award from ATHE.
July 21, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Pleased to announce that the TDR special issue "Still Exhausted: Labor, Digital Technologies, and the Performing Arts," which I co-edited with Catie Cuan and Sydney Skybetter, has received the 2025 Edited Work Award from ATHE.
superb article with extended discussion on interrelation btw performance (via Marcuse), productivity, and fossil-fuel burning :
July 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
superb article with extended discussion on interrelation btw performance (via Marcuse), productivity, and fossil-fuel burning :
i just hope a lot of people take this as an opportunity to watch mississippi masala this weekend
July 4, 2025 at 10:53 AM
i just hope a lot of people take this as an opportunity to watch mississippi masala this weekend
finished @aptshadow.bsky.social 's wonderful children of memory, a bleak, earnest, disorienting star trek riff that forced me to invoke harold pinter's "Old Times" in explaining it to my wife
June 30, 2025 at 11:36 PM
finished @aptshadow.bsky.social 's wonderful children of memory, a bleak, earnest, disorienting star trek riff that forced me to invoke harold pinter's "Old Times" in explaining it to my wife