Introducing the RE:START LAB: tools & methods for uncertain times

The RE:START lab is a  live online learning program that equips participants from all over the world with  proven creative tools and fresh perspectives to tackle design challenges of all kinds, whether brought about by the pandemic or not.  The program teaches the basics of futures thinking, speculative design and narrative theory, as participants work together to synthesize cross-industry insights and reveal opportunities that might have otherwise remained hidden in plain sight. For more info please visit http://arts.columbia.edu/restart

Recorded live at Lincoln Center. Lance Weiler sits down with Loren Hammonds (Senior Programmer Film & Immersive, Tribeca Film Festival) for a fireside chat. The candid conversation explores the challenges and opportunities of staging site-specific installations that attempt to balance story and interactivity - work where those formerly known as the audience become storytellers and part of the experience. Topics covered: curating immersive works, the history of immersive at Tribeca, logistical challenges to staging projects that mix story and code within a festival environment...

Getting an immersive project that mixes story and code up and running is challenging. Often the work represents something that is new and can be difficult to explain. The learning curve for potential funders and prospective audiences can be steep. Not to mention the design, production and exhibition can be costly. As the interest in experiential work is on the rise there is an opportunity to discuss and examine ethical and sustainable funding models for storytellers who are pushing at the edges of new narrative forms and functions. At the same time, an ever-shifting digital landscape makes it difficult for the work to live beyond a limited run and/or to be archived. The following episode of Columbia DSL's Sandbox was recorded live at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The topic of discussion "Exploring Curation, Funding & Exhibition Models for Immersive Storytelling" Our guests for the evening where Regina Harsanyi (Wallplay) and Neil Carty (The Carty Group), Jae Lee & Yvonne Nai-wen Chang (Wildrence). Co-hosted by Columbia DSL's Lance Weiler & Nick Fortugno.

A Dinner with Frankenstein AI had its world premiere at IDFA earlier this month. Over the course of two intimate evenings A Dinner with Frankenstein dug deeply into the tensions between human and machine in an immersive, multi­sensory environment that mixed food, conversation and artificial intelligence. This interactive dinner experience is created by pioneers in storytelling and technology Lance Weiler, Rachel Ginsberg and Nick Fortugno, and presented in cooperation with the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio and IDFA DocLab. A multi-year research project, Frankenstein AI challenges commonly dystopian narratives around artificial intelligence, and seeks to provoke and broaden conversation around the trajectory of this rapidly emerging technology. Beginning with the Sundance Film Festival this past January and over the course of next two years, we’ll invite the public into our process as collaborators through an evolving series of activations and experiences both online and off, that will traverse immersive theatre, browser-based interactions, community design, and other performative and experiential media. Developed and produced in collaboration with the Columbia University School of the Arts’ Digital Storytelling Lab, Frankenstein AI: a monster made by many is a creative system– a network of projects around a central narrative – designed to provoke exploration around possible shared futures for artificial intelligence. For more information please visit Frankenstein AI

Ani Liu is an research-based artist working at the intersection of art & science. Her work examines the reciprocal relationships between science, technology and their influence on human subjectivity, culture, and identity. Ani's work has been presented internationally, and featured on National Geographic, VICE, Mashable, Gizmodo, TED, Core77, PCMag, FOX and WIRED. Her work has been shown at Ars Electronica, the Queens Museum Biennial, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Asian Art Museum, MIT Museum, MIT Media Lab, Mana Contemporary, Harvard University, and Shenzhen Design Society.

For the first episode of Columbia DSL's Sandbox, we sat down with immersive theatre director and Stanford University Professor Michael Rau for a look at how he approaches his creative practice. Michael crafts immersive theatre experiences for one...