Center for Digital Narrative

Look what just dropped down the chimney: Why, it's the first Off Center Christmas Special Holiday Extravaganza Show! Featuring music, human and otherwise, lessons in Norwegian folklore, Christmas beers reviewed, holiday traditions from various cultures, and merriment of all sorts. Featuring Jill Walker Rettberg, Anne Sigrid Refsum, Nick Montfort, Gabriele de Seta, Drew Keller, Hanne-Rikka Roine, Yagmur Vik, Tegan Pyke, Nadja Heiber, Rafael Pérez y Pérez, Søren Pold and the New Originals, Andreas Opsvik, and Ola Roth Johnsen. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3r9FZP4Z1SUeDBLEtijtbv?si=799182e23fb0427d -- and after you get your dose of holiday cheer, be sure to also listen to the Algopod from earlier this week, featuring Gabriele's interview with Nick Seaver.

Christmas Special Holiday Extravaganza Show Off Center · Episode

Earlier this December digital artist and CDN Affiliate Alinta Krauth unveiled three new works commissioned for the opening of OpenAI’s Australian offices in Sydney. These pieces explore how generative tools can shape cultural and creative narratives:

«It’s been great to peek behind the curtain at OpenAI and workshop ways of using their tools that aren’t about speed, profit, or efficiency, but rather how those tools are seeping into cultural and creative avenues,» says Alinta on the experience.

The exhibition featured:
* Resonant Systems I & II – video artworks blending hand-drawn Australian flora and fauna with AI-driven transformations (in images).
* Drift Vector Field – interactive experience created with CDN Professor Jason Nelson, exploring stages of biological, human, and AI growth. Available here, meant for smartphones: https://www.dpoetry.com/aicodeart/
Opening photos by Wes Nel Photography, artist photo by Louis Lim.

Scott and Jhave are back with a new , talking billions of dollars and discussing whether the new AI economy truly is "too big to fail".

Find Off Center on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4T29IzoXWvU4CvqpRxWm3I?si=95f0b4d1758144c2

The AI Update XVII - In**st Economy Off Center · Episode

On the latest episode of Off Center, a discussion with renowned media theorist Roberto Simanowski about about digital art and meaning, hypertext history, and a philosophy of AI. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0XorwKrCIyGEecgMGegk5X?si=fqrrtBkvSMCELaf04O4BsQ

Episode 41 - Digital Art and Meaning with Roberto Simanowski Off Center · Episode

We're very pleased to announce the call for the Joseph P. Tabbi Fellowship for International Researchers in Electronic Literature – which will fully fund an earlier career faculty visiting researcher at the CDN.

Applications are open until Feb 1, 2026

Electronic Book Review - ebr

The 2026 Joseph P. Tabbi Fellowship for International Researchers in Electronic Literature | UiB The Center for Digital Narrative (CDN) at the University of Bergen, a Norwegian Center of Research Excellence, welcomes applicants.

The video of the Eye for AI Cinema filmmaker panel discussion, including good documentation of the exhibition, is online and ready for viewing. Thanks to Drew Keller for the excellent production value.

An Eye for AI Cinema - Panel discussion exploring the impact of AI Is artificial intelligence destroying cinema as we know it? As we enter the age of computer-generated film, AI brings tumultuous changes to the established f...

Deliverables are deliverables. Two PhDs delivering a work to The UiB Academic Ginger Bread City (Den akademiske pepperkakebyen) at Universitetet i Bergen – exhibition opens December 1st!

Like all other published works, the proof gets hung on our article wall.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Zydd1u8NSPScptjzn5rwR?si=EJqZiogjTQ2JB_02m4IEYg On the latest AI update: a 1.5 billion dollar settlement for authors and publishers whose books were used as training data for Anthropic's large language model.

The AI Update XVI: Anthropic Copyright Settlement Off Center · Episode

On the latest episode of Off Center Scott talks to Espen Aarseth, Dean of the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong, about his groundbreaking work in game studies.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7yrsiZ6T3bMCkayXaT8yL8?si=PN6UX7BGSK6pH5nY-yXGmQ

Episode 40: From Cybertext to Video Game Studies with Espen Aarseth Off Center · Episode

ALGOpod is back! Gabriele de Seta is joined by G**o Flinterud, a folklorist and cultural studies researcher, about her research on social media and digital platforms as an interface between the police and the public.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rChFH9xkgI6aged7c6pGL?si=yzyRuPJsQBGPtr0Kmtt7Ww

ALGOpod #2: G**o Flinterud Off Center · Episode

There will be two guided walkthroughs with CDN exhibition curators this week:

AI Cinema: Scott Rettberg at USF Verftet (Thursday 23rd 14-14:30 and 15:00-15:30)

Intimate Atmospheres: Jason Nelson at CDN (Wednesday 22nd 14:00-14:30 and 15:00-15:30)

About the Exhibitions
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Exhibition: An Eye for AI Cinema (see promo video at https://vimeo.com/1127660868?fl=ip&fe=ec and web page at: https://www4.uib.no/en/research/research-centres/center-for-digital-narrative/events/an-eye-for-ai-cinema )

15.10.2025 - 14.00–23.10.2025 - 20.00
USF Verftet, Georgernes verft 12, Bergen

Is artificial intelligence destroying cinema as we know it? Are we entering the age of the computer-generated DIY film? AI brings tumultuous changes to the established film industry, at the same time as it is creating new opportunities for independent filmmakers, and perhaps even birthing new genres of moving image art.

This exhibition of short narrative films, curated by the XDN team at the UiB's Center for Digital Narrative, provides an early glimpse into some innovative experiments with AI technologies that may redefine how movies are made in the future.

Exhibition: Intimate Atmospheres
10-4. Langesgate 1-3. Oct 20-25 (web page: https://www4.uib.no/en/research/research-centres/center-for-digital-narrative/events/intimate-atmospheres )
Intimate Atmospheres invites audiences into the subtle and often invisible world of Nordic microclimates, which are the localised environmental conditions that shape biodiversity and forest health across Nordic ecosystems.

Drawing on scientific research from the "Understanding the role and interplay of forest microclimates for successfully balancing productivity and biodiversity among Nordic forest landscapes (ForestMicroClim)" grant through Nordic Forest Research (SNS), these artworks and digital applications transform quantitative climate data into aesthetic and participatory experiences. Under the SNS grant, many hundreds of sensors have been deployed to gather temperature and moisture readings from hyper-specific locations across Norway’s Sigdal, Kvam, and Grong forests. Each site contains four sensors, each producing an individual data stream. The raw data from these sensors, which together track microclimactic shifts across these Nordic forest landscapes, are interpreted and translated through the works in this exhibition.