Michael Workman: Writing as Cultural Archaeology and the Poetics of Place
A free lecture and writing workshop presented through the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau
Join Bridge founder and Editor-in-Chief Michael Workman for a lecture and participatory writing workshop in the beautiful Hall of the Immortals at Chicago’s International Museum of Surgical Science.
Date: September 26, 2026
Time: Noon–2 p.m.; doors open at 11:30 a.m.
Location: Hall of the Immortals, International Museum of Surgical Science
Address: 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60610
Admission: Free
Register for the lecture and workshop
About the program
How can writing uncover the histories, memories, and relationships embedded in the places we inhabit?
Drawing on his background in experimental poetics and an interdisciplinary practice spanning language, movement, and performance, Workman approaches writing as a form of cultural archaeology: an excavation of the layered relationships between language, identity, and place. With reference to artists and writers including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Johanna Drucker, and Charles Reznikoff, the program explores how writing, history, and landscape intersect to shape cultural memory.
Participants are invited to consider their surroundings as a living archive of stories, gestures, and voices that continue to inform community life. The museum provides a distinctive setting for this exploration, bringing questions of memory, representation, and historical interpretation into conversation with the writing process.
The workshop
Combining a lecture, readings, guided writing exercises, and reflective discussion, the program introduces “poetic fieldwork”—an approach that connects close observation, movement, and writing.
Participants will respond to prompts drawing on local landmarks, historical artifacts, and personal memories of place, considering how geography shapes emotion and thought. Through individual writing and group dialogue, attendees will develop short fragments of writing and explore new ways of perceiving their surroundings, connecting artistic practice to civic imagination.
About Michael Workman
Michael Workman is a Chicago-based artist, writer, and sociocultural critic, and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Bridge, the nonprofit publishing and cultural organization established in 1999. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Guardian US, Newcity, and WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, among other outlets.
His writing and performance practice explores the intersections of language, movement, and place. His publications include Propositional Attitudes (Golden Spike Press) and Perfect Worlds: Artistic Forms & Social Imaginaries (StepSister Press), launched with performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. His performance work includes Active Investigation at the Neubauer Collegium in 2023.
Workman was the 2025 Joan and Peter Hood Artist-in-Residence at Allerton Park and is a 2026–27 Illinois Humanities Road Scholar.
Registration and venue information
For venue questions, contact the International Museum of Surgical Science at 312-642-6502 or info@imss.org.
Presented by the International Museum of Surgical Science in partnership with the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau.