Eric Lewis is a professor of philosophy at McGill Univ., and the director of the Laboratory of Urban Culture (LUC). His research focuses on the philosophy of improvised arts. He also runs the annual Koumaria Improvised New Media Art Residency. Most recently he is the author of ”Intents and Purposes:Philosophy and the Aesthetics of Improvisation” with Univ. of Michigan Press. Lewis is developing an interactive archive portal to allow users to play the role not just of visitors, but curators and artists. The archived material concerns the oral narratives of residents of rural Greek villages, and new media art created from these materials. The project also involves assisting villagers in establishing their own micro-museums and exhibits concerning their oral histories.

He is presently writing a book on Jeanne Lee and experimental vocal practices. He is the author of: Alexander of Aphrodisias’ Commentary on Book IV of Aristotle’s Meteorologia; The Video Art of Sylvia Safdie; Intents and Purposes, Afrological Aesthetics and Improvisation (at press), and co-editor of Improvisation and Social Aesthetics. He is an active curator of mixed-media art. Prof. Lewis also is involved in the AUMI project, to produce new control surfaces to enable individuals with limited motor control make music. He also directs the Laboratory of Urban Culture, which runs a variety of art programs for youth in the Little Burgundy area of Montreal.