We live here now!
The Center for Digital Narrative has moved into their new spaces in Langes gate.
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After patiently waiting for a building, the CDN joins forces under a shared roof in Langes gate 1 and 3.
"It’s the realization of a long-sought dream to finally have all of Center’s research in one place, rather than scattered across campus. It enables us to consult with each other, to generate new ideas quickly, and to socialize together as a team," says Center Director Scott Rettberg.
Langes gate 1-3 has a long history at the University and its surrounding area on the Nygårdshøyden. Built in 1839, Langes gate 3 was originally the home of artillery captain J.F. Sandborg.
Later, C. Sundt, the city's richest merchant and patron of Bergen Museum (UiBs predecessor), took over the property and used it as a family summer home, where he could watch the closest neighbour being built – the new Bergen Museum, the first dedicated museum building in Norway. In the 1870s he had Langes gate 1 built.
The Museum's closest neighbour
The city bought Langes gate 3 in 1913 to stop a housing block from being built just next to Bergen Museum (helped by the fact that the Museum director at the time was a local politician) and the museum took over the building in 1931. In the University's first year, 1946, they bought Langes gate 1 as well. Director Scott Rettberg is happy with working in historical environments:
"The fact that we are doing so in a such a beautiful pair of buildings is an added bonus. We bring together one of the newest and most active fields of research with the second-oldest historic building at the center of the UiB campus."
In the early years of the UiB, Langes gate 1 was the offices of the Rector, while Langes gate 3 was the home of the director of the Bergen botanic gardens. Throughout the second half of the 1900s, the two buildings have houses several offices of the UiB, the latest being Division of Student and Academic Affairs.
In 2001, the houses were joined by a glass pavillion, which now forms our entrance. CDN has spent the past months gradually moving, and are now settling in.
CDN
Center for Digital Narrative is a Norwegian Centre of Research Excellence funded by the Norwegian Research Council from 2023-2033. CDN focuses on algorithmic narrativity, new environments and materialities, and shifting cultural contexts. We will investigate how the interactions of human authors with non-human agents result in new narrative forms, how the materiality of digital narratives have changed, and how cultural contexts are reshaping the use and function of digital narrative.
Langes gate 1 and 3
Built in 1874 and 1842. With many UiB buildings, the buildings are protected under the Cultural Heritage Act of Norway.
