Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei has dedicated himself to the investigation of systems of sense making and signification. He has received formal training in linguistics (MA General Linguistics, Leiden University), multimedia art (MMus ArtScience, Royal Conservatory The Hague), and philosophy (PhD Media & Communication, European Graduate School; PhD Modern Thought, University of Aberdeen), as well as group-analytic psychotherapy (Group Work Practitioner, Institute of Group Analysis). Van Gerven Oei is currently director/CFO of open access publishing house punctum books and founding director/CEO of software company Thoth Open Metadata.
His scholarly work encompasses philological research into the medieval language Old Nubian, of which he has published a grammar (A Reference Grammar of Old Nubian, 2021) and numerous textual editions; art criticism and theory, in particular in relation to politics; open access publishing and scholarly communication; and semiotics that extend beyond the human, including guiding psychedelic experiences.
Van Gerven Oei has translated work of numerous authors, including Jean Daive, Hervé Guibert, Werner Hamacher, Jeroen Mettes, Avital Ronell, Gengoroh Tagame, and Nachoem M. Wijnberg. His writings have appeared in Afterall, Glossa, Journal of Electronic Publishing, Journal of Juristic Papyrology, postmedieval, and Theory & Event, among other venues. He currently writes infrequently at The Albanian Mechanism.