Byron Davies
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1985.
Naturalized Mexican citizen since February 2025.
Academic Employment
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Universidad de Murcia, affiliated with Aresmur research group in aesthetics and art theory, with the research project “Materialism and Geographic Specificity in the Philosophy of Film,” September 2024-September 2026
Teaching Professor, Department of Humanistic Studies, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City campus, August 2023-June 2024
Visiting Researcher, Instituto Internacional de Estudios Políticos Avanzados “Ignacio Manuel Altamirano” (IIEPA-IMA), Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero (UAGro), June 2021-December 2023
Teaching Profesor, College of Philosophy and Letters, Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, August 2021-December 2022
Teaching Assistant, Department of Philosophy, Harvard University, Spring 2021
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Philosophical Research (Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), March 2018-February 2020 (Research supervisor: Carlos Pereda)
Education
Harvard University, PhD in Philosophy, 2018
Reed College, BA in Philosophy, 2007
Non-degree studies, Wadham College, University of Oxford, 2005-6
Areas of Specialization
Aesthetics, social philosophy and its history, philosophy of film
Areas of Competence
Philosophy of language, philosophy of action, philosophy and literature
Dissertation
Title: Dependence on Persons and Dependence on Things in Rousseau’s Social, Psychological, and Aesthetic Theory
Defended January 18, 2018.
Committee: Richard Moran (committee chair, Harvard University), Matthew Boyle (University of Chicago), Frederick Neuhouser (Columbia University)
Academic Honors and Awards
Award for best-evaluated teacher in Philosophy, Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, 2021-2022 academic year
Two Harvard University Certificates of Distinction in Teaching (for work as teaching assistant in courses “Film and Philosophy” and “Philosophy and Literature: Proust”), 2021
Richard M. Martin Dissertation Fellowship, Harvard Philosophy Department, Fall 2014; 2015-16
Participant, SIAS Summer Institute on the Second Person. National Humanities Center, Aug. 7-19, 2011; Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Aug. 5-17, 2012.
Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching (for tutorial “Philosophy of Film”), 2011
Class of ’21 Award for exceptional creative work, Reed College, 2007 (Awarded to senior thesis)
Edwin N. Garlan Memorial Prize for outstanding scholarship in philosophy, Reed College, 2007
Phi Beta Kappa, 2007
Academic Publications
With Sebastian Wiedemann: “Ecologías post-naturales del cine experimental latinoamericano reciente: Un diálogo entre Sebastian Wiedemann & Byron Davies.” La furia umana, 46 (2025), 127−133; dossier: “Nature/Ch’ixi/Culture and the Cinemas of Latin America,” edited by Salomé Lopes Coelho, Mariana Cunha, and Angela Prysthon.
“The Time of a Missing People: Elliptically Uncovering the Workday of the ‘Extra’ in Bruno Varela’s Papeles Secundarios (2004) and Cuerpos Complementarios (2022).” Philosophies 9.5 (2024), 154. Special issue, “Cinema and Philosophy: Exploring the Intersections of Time, Identity, Ethics and Aesthetics,” edited by Bernd Herzogenrath.
“Formalism expanded.” Necsus_European Journal of Media Studies, 13 (1), Spring 2024, 308-315. Review essay of The Shape of Motion: Cinema and the Aesthetics of Movement by Jordan Schonig (Oxford University Press, 2022) and Disformations: Affects, Media, Literature by Tomáš Jirsa (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).
“TV Time, Recurrence, and the Situation of the Spectator: An Approach via Stanley Cavell, Raúl Ruiz, and Ruiz’s Late Chilean Series Litoral.” Television with Stanley Cavell in Mind, edited by David LaRocca and Sandra Laugier (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2023), 191-221.
“Found Footage at the Receding of the World.” Screen 63.1 (2022): 123-129.
“Cavell on Color.” Conversations 9 (2021): 90-113.
“The Specter of the Electronic Screen: Bruno Varela’s Reception of Stanley Cavell.” Movies with Stanley Cavell in Mind, edited by David LaRocca (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2021), 72-90.
“Accidents Made Permanent: Theater and Automatism in Stanley Cavell, Michael Fried, and Matías Piñeiro.” Modern Language Notes (MLN) Comparative Literature Issue 135.5 (2020): 1218-1314.
“The Affective and the Political: Rousseau and Contemporary Kantianism.” Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía 59 (2020): 301-339.
“Remembering Stanley Cavell.” Conversations 7 (2019): 65-68. Memorial notice for Stanley Cavell originally published on the Harvard Philosophy Department website.
“Individuality and Mortality in the Philosophy of Portrait-Painting: Simmel, Rousseau, and Melanie Klein.” Contrastes. Revista Internacional de Filosofía 23.3 (2018): 27-52.
Review of Toril Moi, Revolution of the Ordinary (University of Chicago Press, 2017). Modern Language Notes (MLN) Comparative Literature Issue 133.5 (2018): 1416-1419.
“Speech, the Affective, and the Insult in Not Being Believed: Rousseau and Adam Smith.” The Adam Smith Review, volume 11, edited by Fonna Forman (London: Routledge, 2018), 53-66. Part of a symposium on Rousseau and Smith.
“An Autobiography of Companions.” Modern Language Notes 126.5 (2011): 972-78.
Other Writings
“Mythopoesis from Tenochtitlán: Annalisa D. Quagliata Blanco’s ¡Aoquic iez in Mexico! / ¡Ya México no existirá más!” Millenium Film Journal (MFJ) no. 80 (fall 2024): 52-63.
With Bruno Varela: “The Machine of the Future (La máquina de futuro): A film and an expanded cinema assemblage.” English version of “La máquina de futuro.” Catalog of the third edition of the Umbrales experimental film section of the FICUNAM film festival. June 2024.
“Mitopoiesis de Tenochtitlán: ¡Aoquic iez in Mexico! / ¡Ya México no existirá más!” Essay on film by Annalisa D. Quagliata. Los experimentos. May 31, 2024.
Excerpt published in Spanish, English, and Galician on the website of (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico: https://s8cinema.com/en/2024/06/04/mythopoesis-from-tenochtitlan-annalisa-d-quagliata-blancos-aoquic-iez-in-mexico-ya-mexico-no-existira-mas/
With Bruno Varela: “La máquina de futuro.” Los Experimentos. February 15, 2024.
“Errant Telenovelas.” The Baffler. June 15, 2023.
“From Archival Footage to Cosmovisión: Bruno Varela’s El Prototipo.” Millenium Film Journal (MFJ) no. 77 (spring 2023): 56-63. English version of “El Prototipo de Bruno Varela: del metraje de archivo a la cosmovisión.”
“Light and Its Secrets: Sandra Luz López Barroso.” / “La luz y sus secretos: Sandra Luz López Barroso.” Bilingual essay. Los Experimentos (April 6, 2023). Also published on the website of López Barroso: https://www.luzdeoaxaca.com/la-luz-y-sus-secretos-sandra-luz-barroso
“El Prototipo de Bruno Varela: del metraje de archivo a la cosmovisión.” Desistfilm, in collaboration with the 2022 edition of the Cámara Lúcida film festival in Cuenca, Ecuador. November 14, 2022. Also republished in Los Experimentos (February 8, 2023).
With Julián Madero: “Land: An Interview with Kon Trubkovich.” Onda MX, July 14, 2022.
“Espectadores, Gigantes e Infancia: Jean-Jacques Rousseau y Víctor Erice.” (Spanish translation, with additions, of “Spectators and Giants in Rousseau and Víctor Erice.”) Correspondencias. Cine y Pensamiento Issue 6, Summer 2018.
“Spectators and Giants in Rousseau and Víctor Erice.” Aesthetics for Birds. September 2016.
Selected Academic Presentations
“El tiempo de un pueblo que falta: descubriendo elípticamente la jornada laboral del ‘extra’ en Papeles secundarios (2004) y Cuerpos complementarios (2022) de Bruno Varela.” Coloquio Internacional “Estética e historicidad: imagen, cine, literatura.” Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City. February 26, 2025. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Imag(in)ing Urban Futures: Humanity’s Urban Future CIFAR Program. Comments on presentations by Ezekiel Guillermo Gatto and Deb Chachra, October 29, 2024; and Bruno Varela and Pablo Martínez Zárate, October 30, 2024; National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
“Surface, Material Bodies, and the Avant-Garde in Philosophy of Film.” Aresmur Permanent Seminar, Universidad de Murcia, Spain. October 7, 2024.
“Approaching Nahual Cinema in Oaxaca: Salón de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU).” (Joint presentation with Marcela Cuevas and Bruno Varela.) Global Circulations of Film Theory Conference. King’s College London. August 31, 2024.
Presentations to students of Dibujos Animados S.A. 1950s Cold War propaganda cartoons produced in Mexico:
*Annapurna Kumar’s “Animation History” course, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). December 5, 2023. (Via Zoom.)
*Jodie Mack’s “History of Animation” course, Dartmouth College. October 17, 2023. (Via Zoom.)
Presentation with Bruno Varela of his film Monolito (2019) at the Cineclub of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Departamento de Medios y Cultura Digital. March 22, 2023. (Via Zoom, conducted in Spanish.)
Master class: “Espacios y pantallas en cine experimental” (“Spaces and Screens in Experimental Film”). Tecnológico de Monterrey, Departamento de Medios y Cultura Digital. September 12, 2022. (Conducted in Spanish.)
“TV Time, Recurrence, and the Situation of the Spectator: An Approach via Stanley Cavell and Raúl Ruiz.” Art and Knowledge Lecture Series, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. June 14, 2022. (Via Zoom.)
“Pictorial Metaphor in Experimental Film.” British Society of Aesthetics Synergy Conference: Experimental Film, Video Art, and the Borders of Cinema. Queen Mary, University of London. May 25, 2022. Travel to London supported by a bursary from the British Society of Aesthetics.
“Algunas conexiones entre el cine, la pintura y la tradición ‘realista’”. (“Some connections between film, painting, and the ‘realist’ tradition’.) Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana. Colloquium on Aesthetics and Philosophy of Film: Between Theory and Practice. March 11, 2022. (Conducted in Spanish.)
“Roland Barthes’s Ontology of Photography.” Tecnológico de Monterrey, Departamento de Medios y Cultura Digital. November 1, 2021. (Via Zoom)
“Cavell, Experimental Film, and Found Footage.”
*Aresmur Permanent Seminar, Universidad de Murcia, Spain. March 4, 2021. (Via Zoom)
*Contellations of the Ordinary International Colloquium, Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). February 20, 2021. (Via Zoom)
Workshop on Austin, Cavell, and the “Ontology” of Cinema. Coloquio Internacional de Filosofía del Lenguaje Ordinario/International Workshop in Ordinary Language Philosophy. Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). October 9, 2019. (Conducted in Spanish.)
“Accidents Made Permanent: Theater and Automatism in Stanley Cavell and Michael Fried.”
*Coloquio Internacional de Filosofía del Lenguaje Ordinario/International Workshop in Ordinary Language Philosophy. Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). October 10, 2019.
*V Congreso Iberoamericano de Filosofía. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). June 20, 2019. (Delivered in Spanish)
*La pensée du cinéma/The Thought of Movies. International Colloquium. Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne. June 15, 2019.
“Cavell, Portraits, and Genres.” Memorial conference for Stanley Cavell. Department of Philosophy, Harvard University. November 10, 2018.
“The Affective and the Political: Rousseau and Contemporary Kantianism.” Seminario de Investigadores, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). September 26, 2018.
Comments on Natalia Almada’s film El Velador (2011) and Amy Sara Carroll’s book REMEX: Toward an Art History of the NAFTA Era (University of Texas Press, 2017). Society for the Humanities, Cornell University. May 1, 2018. (Via Skype.)
“Affective and Political Conceptions of a Person.” Seminar on “Seeing Corruption in Mexico” taught by Laura Pérez León, Society for the Humanities, Cornell University. November 9, 2017. (Via Skype.)
“Amour-Propre and Seeing Others as Persons.”
*Practical Philosophy Seminar, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). May 25, 2018.
*POLETH Research Group in Political, Legal, and Ethical Theory. Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). March 29, 2017.
*Harvard Philosophy Department Workshop in Moral and Political Philosophy. August 31, 2016.
*Mahindra Humanities Center “Panaesthetics” Workshop, Harvard University. March 30, 2016.
“The Insult in Not Being Believed: Rousseau and Adam Smith.”
*Boston University Graduate Philosophy Conference. October 24, 2015.
*Conference on Themes from Smith and Rousseau. University of Glasgow. July 21, 2015.
*Between Ethics and Epistemology: Reflecting on the Work of Miranda Fricker. University of Massachusetts Boston. April 27, 2015.
Comments on Ginger Clausen, “Fitting Love.” 2015 Harvard-MIT Graduate Student Philosophy Conference. April 18, 2015.
“What Role Is There for the Concept of Authority in Thinking about Ordinary Language?” Workshop on French translation of Richard Moran’s Authority and Estrangement. Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne. January 18, 2014.
“Rousseau on Intersubjectivity.” Harvard Philosophy Department Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology. April 15, 2013.
“Appearances of the Self in Rousseau and Kierkegaard.”
*Annual Harvard Workshop in European Philosophy: The Discourse of Philosophy. December 7, 2012.
*Harvard Philosophy Department Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology. November, 27, 2012.
“Knowing What We Say.”
*Giving and Asking for Reasons: A Workshop with Robert Brandom. Universität Basel, Switzerland. May 5, 2012.
*Harvard Philosophy Department Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology. November 14, 2011.
*J. L. Austin Centenary Conference, Lancaster University, United Kingdom. April 6, 2011.
“The Importance of the Insult in Not Being Believed.” Harvard Philosophy Department Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology. April 16, 2012.
“An Autobiography of Companions.” Symposium on Stanley Cavell’s Little Did I Know, Johns Hopkins University Humanities Center. April 22, 2011.
“‘Ought’s Safe for Anscombe.” Fordham University Graduate Philosophy Conference on Aristotle in the 21st Century. March 5, 2010.
Other Presentations
Workshop, “Aproximaciones filosóficas al cine experimental” (“Philosophical Approaches to Experimental Film”). Cámara Lúcida Film Festival, Cuenca, Ecuador. October 18-21. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Online panel discussion: “¿El pueblo por venir? Aquí lo que sobra es pueblo” (“The people to come? Here what is left over is people”). Part of the colloquium “Entre la Tierra y el Pueblo: II Coloquio Internacional de Cine y Filosofía.” With Adrian Cangi, Daniel Cortés, Bruno Varela, and Viridiana Martínez Marín (moderator). Hosted by the Centro de Cultura Digital. July 10, 2024. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Panel discussion: “Cine experimental como pedagogía” (“Experimental Film as Pedagogy”). With Almudena Escobar, Annalisa Quagliata, and Ana Cervera (moderator). Seminario El Público del Futuro, Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM (FICUNAM). June 15, 2024. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Talk with Marcela Cuevas on experimental film at Vibrart arts festival. Cinemateca Luis Buñuel, Puebla City, Puebla, Mexico. May 16, 2024. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Participation in panel on “Trance, liminaridad y espectralidad” as part of the colloquium “Entre el Trance y la Deriva: Coloquio Internacional de Cine y Filosofía.” Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City. October 21, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Presentations of “Animación mexicana, propaganda y Guerra Fría” (“Mexican Animation, Propaganda, and the Cold War”):
*Presentations in the online project “Dilato Animación.” April 2, 2024 and November 5, 2024. (Conducted in Spanish.)
*Presentation at the Block Museum, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. With Dan Bashara, Derek Larson and Carlos Oliva Mendoza. November 2, 2023.
*Presentation of Maíz para las masas (Pat Matthews, likely 1953-54) at Muestra Mínima film festival, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo in Texcoco, State of Mexico. October 24, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
*With Carlos Oliva Mendoza. Pulqueria Insurgentes, Mexico City. October 4, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
*With Dan Bashara, Derek Larson, and Carlos Oliva Mendoza, moderated by Isabel Rojas. Archivo General del Estado de Oaxaca (AGEO). September 23, 2023. Part of a series of events related to the topic organized by Salón de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU) in Oaxaca that weekend. (Conducted in Spanish.)
*With Pepe Rojo. Centro Estatal de las Artes (CEART), Tijuana. July 29, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
*With Aureliano Buzoianu, Carlos Oliva Mendoza, and Luis Carlos Pichardo. Sponsored by Movimiento Comunista Mexicano. Museo Casa de la Memoria Indómita, Mexico City. June 28, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
*With Juan Manuel Aurreocochea, Dan Bashara, Derek G. Larson, and Carlos Oliva Mendoza. Part of the program “Cine Más Allá” of the Laboratorio Experimental de Cine (LEC). Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City. April 29, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Conversation with filmmakers Deborah Stratman and Jodie Mack about their films Last Things (2023) and M*U*S*H (2023), respectively. Black Canvas Festival de Cine Contemporáneo. Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City. October 1, 2023.
Presentation of Lourdes Portillo’s film The Devil Never Sleeps (1994), as part of the Ambulante documentary festival. Cineteca Nacional, Mexico City. September 1, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Talk on experimental and communitarian cinema coordinated by Cultura UNAM with Eder Almanza, Don Anahí, Rodrigo Cué, Marcela Cuevas Ríos, and Carolina Jaschack. Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades Plantel Oriente UNAM, Mexico City. May 4, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Presentation on Stan Brakhage’s film Anticipation of the Night (1958), sponsored by the film magazine El cine probablemente and “Cine Más Allá” of the Laboratorio Experimental de Cine (LEC). Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City. February 18, 2023. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Panel on “Consultorio de archivo vivo,” with Alejandra Arrieta, Marcela Cuevas Ríos, and Jorge Lorenzo, El Rule Comunidad de Saberes, Mexico City. November 29, 2022. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Conversation with Bruno Varela, as part of the XXII Festín Audiovisual, El Rule Comunidad de Saberes, Mexico City. July 28, 2022. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Panel on “Cartografías de la vanguardia” (“Cartographies of the Avant-Garde”), as part of the Foro de la Crítica Permanente, with co-panelists Cintia Gil and Olaf Möller, moderated by Karina Solórzano. Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM (FICUNAM), Cátedra Ingmar Bergman. March 15, 2022. (Conducted in English and Spanish.)
Panel on “Consultorio de archivo vivo,” organized by the art collective Palmera Ardiendo. With Alejandra Arrieta, Marcela Cuevas Ríos, and Bruno Varela, moderated by Helena Lugo. Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City. November 11, 2021. (Conducted in Spanish.)
Teaching Experience
At the Universidad de Murcia:
Mass Media Aesthetics (taught with María José Alcaraz León), Spring 2025
At the Tecnológico de Monterrey:
Possible Futures: Utopias and Dystopias in Cinema and Literature, Spring 2024
Criminal Law and Particular Crimes, Spring 2024 (team-taught, in Spanish)
Post-humanism, Ethics, and Technology, Fall 2023
At the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana:
Aesthetics, Fall 2022 (in Spanish)
Responsibility and Transcendence, Spring 2022 (in Spanish)
Philosophy and Beliefs, Spring 2022 (in Spanish), focused on Marxist theory of ideology
Aesthetics, Fall 2021 (in Spanish)
At the UNAM:
Seminars for master’s students specializing in aesthetics (sole instructor):
Points of View and the Self in Painting and Cinema, Spring 2019 (in Spanish)
Being Affected by Persons: Portraiture and Aesthetics, Fall 2018
At Harvard:
Philosophy Department Writing Fellow, Fall 2012-Spring 2013 (Writing instructor for undergraduates taking courses in the Philosophy Department)
As sole instructor of tutorials for undergraduate majors:
Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, Spring 2015
Rousseau, Spring 2014
Philosophy of Film, Fall 2011
As teaching assistant:
Film and Philosophy (Richard Moran), Spring 2021
From Sinners to Sociopaths: The Many Faces of Evil (John Hamilton and Amélie Rorty), Harvard Summer School 2015
Philosophy and Literature: Proust (Richard Moran), Spring 2012, Spring 2021
Self, Freedom, and Existence (Richard Moran), Fall 2011
Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy (Alison Simmons), Spring 2011
Introduction to the Problems of Philosophy (Bernhard Nickel), Fall 2010
As grader:
Later Philosophy of Wittgenstein (Warren Goldfarb), Fall 2015
Aesthetics (Richard Moran), Spring 2014
Professional Activities
Peer review for Routledge; British Journal of Aesthetics; Philosophical Psychology; Journal of Modern Philosophy; Iluminace: The Journal of Film Theory, History, and Aesthetics; Intermediality: History and Theory of the Arts, Literature and Technologies; AYLLU-SIAF. Revista de la Sociedad Iberoamericana de Antropología Filosófica; Éndoxa; and Ciencia Política (Universidad Nacional de Colombia).
Co-organizer (with Sebastian Wiedemann and Viridiana Martínez Marín) of “Entre la Tierra y el Pueblo: II Coloquio Internacional de Filosofía y Cine,” in collaboration with the Centro de Cultura Digital (CCD), Laboratorio Experimental de Cine (LEC), Hambre Espacio Cine Experimental, Salón de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU), Lab a-PTSE, ENAC (UNAM), and Casa de la Primera Imprenta de América (UAM). July 9-13, 17, and 20, 2024.
Jury member for experimental film section of Vibrart art festival. Puebla City, Puebla, Mexico. May 16-17, 2024.
External examiner of PhD dissertation in Humanities by Viridiana Martínez Marín, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana - Xochimilco (defended April 2024).
Co-organizer (with Sebastian Wiedemann and Viridiana Martínez Marín) of “Entre el Trance y la Deriva: Coloquio Internacional de Filosofía y Cine,” in collaboration with the Centro de Cultura Digital (CCD), Laboratorio Experimental de Cine (LEC), Hambre Espacio Cine Experimental, Salón de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU), and Anticuerpo. Moderator of sessions on “Trance, liminaridad y espectralidad I,” “Historia y análisis del trance en el cine experimental.” October 19, 20, 21, and 25, 2023.
Member of scientific committee for XV Inter-University Workshop on Mind, Art, and Morality: Philosophy and Film (Universitat de València, September 18-20, 2023).
Organizer of colloquium “Aesthetics and Philosophy of Film: Between Theory and Practice,” Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, spring and fall 2022.
Proofreader of Christine M. Korsgaard’s book manuscript, Fellow Creatures, 2017.
Designer of publicity materials for “Varieties of Self-Knowledge” Workshop (organized by Matthew Boyle and Richard Moran), Harvard University, March 11-12, 2016.
Graduate Representative to Harvard Philosophy Department Faculty, 2014-15.
Organizer, Philosophy and Literature Reading Group (substituting for Richard Moran), 2014-15.
Corresponding Member, CNRS (Centre National de de la Recherche Scientifique) International Research Group, “Philosophie du language ordinaire et conceptions ordinaires en sciences sociales,” 2013-2016.
Student organizer (assisting Matthew Boyle and Richard Moran), “Self, Knowledge, Expression” Workshop, Harvard University, November 2, 2012.
Co-organizer, 2010 Harvard-MIT Graduate Student Philosophy Conference, April 3, 2010.
Contributing editor, OLP and Literary Studies (academic blog devoted to ordinary language philosophy, literature, and the arts), 2010-2017.
Research Assistant for Professor Stanley Cavell, 2009-2018.
Selected Artistic and Curatorial Projects
Co-curator (with Marcela Cuevas Ríos) of exhibition of work by Bruno Varela, “Cuerpos complementarios y otras derivas,” In-formal art space, Cuenca, Ecuador, as part of Cámara Lúcida international film festival. October 22-30, 2024.
Member of committee for the selection of the Nahual Prize for film in the Muestra Nahual (Salón de Cines Múltiples), Oaxaca de Juárez, September 20, 2024.
Co-curator (with Lumia Lightsmith) of the film program “El corazón que tenía: Películas de Saul Levine, Luther Price y Silvia Gruner,” in the Cineclub Revolución Congelada, Escuela Nacional de Artes Cinematográficas (ENAC), UNAM. August 13, 2024.
Co-management (with Marcela Cuevas, Carlos Cruz Martínez, Estefanía Díaz, Bruno Varela, and Goyo Desgarennes) of visit and screenings by artist Janie Geiser to Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. Screenings in Sala Elia. Collaboration between Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film and Video and Salón de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU). August 1-2, 2024.
Co-curator of film programs as part of the colloquium “Entre la Tierra y el Pueblo: II Coloquio Internacional de Filosofía y Cine”: (with Sebastian Wiedemann): “Entre la Tierra y el Pubelo - Potencias de la especulación,” Sala Elia, Oaxaca City (July 10, 2024) and Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City (July 20, 2024); (with Sebastian Wiedemann and Bruno Varela): “Entre la Tierra y el Pubelo - Potencias de lo real,” Sala Elia, Oaxaca City (July 11, 2024) and Casa de la Primera Imprenta de América, Mexico City (July 17, 2024).
Co-curator, with Lumia Lightsmith, of Saul Levine retrospective in Mexico. Screenings in 16mm and Super 8 at La Cueva (June 27, 2024), the Cineteca Nacional (June 28 and 30, 2024), the Centro de Cultura Digital (June 29, 2024), and the Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Oaxaca (July 3, 2024).
Participating artist in group exhibition, “Diálogos: Muestra(s) de Arte Contemporáneo.” Teorema, Mexico City. February 6-18, 2024.
Organization (together with Annalisa D. Quagliata and Manuel “Morris” Trujillo) of programs at La Cueva microcinema in Mexico City:
*“Algo en lugar de nada”: in-person visit by filmmaker Brian L. Frye, presenting films in 16mm. Collaboration with the Film-Makers’ Cooperative. August 10, 2024.
*In-person visit by filmmaker Mike Hoolboom, screening seven of his short films. February 5, 2024.
*In-person visit by projectionist John Quackenbush, screening four films by Saul Levine in 16mm, from the filmmaker’s personal collection. January 25, 2024.
Presentation and programming of “Fases de la materialidad: El cine virtual de Deniz Tortum,” of works by Turkish filmmaker Deniz Tortum. Part of the program “Cine Más Allá” of the Laboratorio Experimental de Cine (LEC). Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City. January 20, 2024.
Curating with Sebastian Wiedemann and Viridiana Martínez Marín of film programs as part of the colloquium “Entre el Trance y la Deriva: Coloquio Internacional de Cine y Filosofía”: “Derivas y tránsitos entre mundos Amerindios,” La Cueva micro-cinema in Mexico City, October 19, 2023; “Derivas y tránsitos entre mundos Afrodiaspóricos,” La Cueva, October 20, 2023; and “Trance, liminaridad y espectralidad,” Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, October 21, 2023.
Expanded cinema performance with Marcela Cuevas Ríos at the Mexico City gallery Proyectos Puente. September 17, 2023.
Mexico City management team for Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film and Video. July 2023-present.
Member of organizing team for Oaxaca-based film exhibition project Salón de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU). April 2023-present.
Coordinator, together with Marcela Cuevas Ríos, of film program and workshop by artist Janie Geiser, sponsored by Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film and Video. Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, June 30-July 2, 2023; Pulqueria Insurgentes, July 6, 2023.
Participating artist in group exhibition, #LatinChat, curated by Goyo Desgarennes and Yomara Naomi of Mvseo Privadø, Galería Municipal Rosario Sánchez de Lozada, Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro, April 14-May 28, 2023.
Participation in the collective film, El desierto de Simón (2022), organized by ULTRAcinema MX, with two short films made with Marcela Cuevas, La columna de la pureza and Simón y la revolución: https://xool.ultracinema.x10.mx/el-desierto-de-simon/
Screenings at Cinema Maldà in Barcelona, Spain (August 14, 2022); Casa Fuego in Bogotá, Colombia (September 7, 2022); Vortex Cultural Center in Zacatelco, Tlaxcala, Mexico (September 9, 2022); Casa de la Cultura de Tijuana (October 20, 2022); Cineteca Mexiquense (October 29, 2022); Teorema, Mexico City (October 12, 2023).
Drawings included in Los Angeles-based 7x7’s “Quarantine Diary” (2020): http://7x7.la/conversation/quarantine-diary/
“Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man”: artistic collaboration in 7x7 with writer Tom Pyun (2019): http://7x7.la/frankenstein-meets-the-wolf-man/
Participation in group exhibition, “Una línea ya es paisaje.” Clip Taller, February-March 2019. Parallel activity of the Zona Maco Art Fair.
Solo exhibition, “Personas y cosas.” Casa Rosa Cultural Center, Oaxaca City, Mexico. September 2017.
Drawings and paintings included in private collections in Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, New Dehli, New York, and San Francisco.
Translation Work
Translations from Spanish to English of texts in Canyon Cinemazine #8, 2023, edited by Walter Forsberg and Tzutzumatzin Soto, dedicated to the theme “Cine-Espacios.”
Translations from Spanish to English of articles in the Mexico City art magazine Onda MX (2019-2023), as well as gallery texts for PROXYCO Gallery (New York), Karen Huber Gallery (Mexico City), PEANA Gallery (Monterrey, Mexico), and RRD art project (Mexico City).
Live translation between Spanish and English for:
*Filmmaker Guillaume Vallée, Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film and Video. Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, July 15, 2023.
*Artist Janie Geiser in workshop and presentation of her work, Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film and Video. Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, June 30-July 2, 2023; Pulqueria Insurgentes, July 6, 2023.
*Filmmakers Richard Tuohy and Dianna Barrie in presentation of a selection of their films at Yope Projects Space, sponsored by Salon de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU) and Verano Cine, Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, May 16, 2023.
Teacher of workshop on translation in contemporary art for the Oaxaca, Mexico-based art project Mvseo Privadø (September to December 2021).
Media
Co-authored blurb (with Annalisa Quagliata and Manuel “Morris” Trujillo), Jonas Mekas, Palabras aparte y otros poemas 1967-1998 (Mexico City: diSONARE Editorial, 2025).
Participation in poll of best films of 2024, Nexos: https://cultura.nexos.com.mx/las-mejores-peliculas-de-2024-segun-100-especialistas-iberoamericanos/
Participation in “Mapa del Cine de Latinoamérica y el Caribe 1896-2022” in celebration of 30th anniversary of FICValdivia Film Festival: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCrxqtTy8dT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Panel “¿El pueblo por venir? Aquí lo que sobra es pueblo” as part of "Entre la Tierra y el Pueblo: II Coloquio Internacional de Cine y Filosofía." July 10, 2024 (in Spanish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ciyj1x5cp9Q
Panel “Cine experimental como pedagogía” as part of the Seminario El Público del Futuro, Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM (FICUNAM), June 15, 2024 (in Spanish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlHI9YCRgY8&t=1717s
Participation in 2023 film lists/polls:
*Nexos: https://cultura.nexos.com.mx/las-mejores-peliculas-de-2023-segun-80-especialistas-iberoamericanos/
*Desistfilm: https://desistfilm.com/desistfilm-2023-film-round-up-the-lists-las-listas/
Blog post and audio recording of presentation of “Mexican Animation, Propaganda, and the Cold War” at Block Museum, Northwestern University (posted December 6, 2023): https://nublockmuseum.blog/2023/12/06/mexican-animation-american-propaganda-the-block-hosts-first-us-screening-of-lost-cold-war-cartoons/
Sessions of the colloquium “Entre el Trance y la Deriva: Coloquio Internacional de Cine y Filosofía”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R7AKdUlIJQ&list=PLRwygLWKm3tz9XHl9d6VqT4iVptm4tM0W
Appearance on CORTV (Corporación Oaxaqueña de Radio y Televisión) to discuss the programming in Oaxaca by Salón de Cines Múltiples (SACIMU) related to the theme “Mexican Animation, Propaganda, and the Cold War.” September 22, 2023. Other coverage of the event in local Oaxacan news media: Canal 13, Acierta, Libertad Oaxaca, Asimetrías, Central Q, Azul Cristal FM, Agencia de Noticias Oaxaca
Article in La Jornada Zacatecas discussing research into Dibujos Animados S.A. 1950s Cold War propaganda cartoons in connection with screening at the Cineteca Zacatecas: https://ljz.mx//05/09/2023/proyectaran-una-serie-de-caricaturas-anticomunistas-realizadas-en-los-anos-50/
Article in The Baffler, “Errant Telenovelas,” featured on the blog of filmmaker Lourdes Portillo (July 6, 2023): https://www.lourdesportillo.com/blog/lourdes-portillo-and-the-devil-never-sleepsel-diablo-nunca-duerme-featured-in-the-baffler-critical-essay-errant-telenovelas-by-byron-davies
Article in The Baffler, “Errant Telenovelas,” selected as “recommended reading” in Mubi Notebook (June 21, 2023): https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/rushes-welles-reconstructed-tarantino-master-class-hong-kong-free-cinema-manifesto
Conversation with curator Goyo Desgarennes about the exhibition #LatinChat, April 10, 2023 (in Spanish): https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq4GuNIpUXB/
Review by critic Nicolás Ruiz of presentation of Anticipation of the Night (Stan Brakhage, 1958) at the Centro de Cultura Digital, La Tempestad (February 28, 2023): https://www.latempestad.mx/stan-brakhage-anticipation-of-the-night/
Conversation on the topic, “¿A dónde va el cine experimental mexicano?” (“Where is Mexican experimental cinema going?”), ULTRAcinema MX festival, hosted by Michael Ramos-Araizaga (in Spanish), October 26, 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INm90_kEqlM&t=1206s
Shared appearance on experimental film podcast Nada es Original, as part of the 10th edition of the ULTRAcinema MX Festival in Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico, hosted by Michael Ramos-Araizaga (in Spanish), May 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F-SVi2lZEQ
Shared appearance on panel, “Cartografías de la vanguardia” (“Cartographies of the Avant-Garde”), as part of the Foro de la Crítica Permanente, Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM (FICUNAM), March 15, 2022 (in Spanish and English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf1cvIN6GOc
Talk on “Cavell, Experimental Film, and Found Footage.” Contellations of the Ordinary International Colloquium. February 20, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsm-Y9tOKxo
Appearances on podcast The Lodgers, hosted by Kate Rennebohm and Simon Howell, to discuss Twin Peaks: Return (2017):
Episode 27, “Goodnight, Margaret”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-twenty-seven-goodnight-margaret-ft-byron-davies/id1207140220?i=1000446521088
Episode 18, “This Podcast Contains a Coded Message”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-eighteen-this-podcast-contains-a-coded/id1207140220?i=1000446521092
Languages
English (Native)
Spanish (Fluent)
French (Research and speaking)
Basic knowledge of German and Russian