Exploring new forms & functions of storytelling

We believe that storytelling can change the world. The Digital Storytelling Lab is a next generation media lab harnessing the arts, humanities and emergent technology to tackle some of the world's impossible problems through collaboration, creativity, exploration, experimentation, reflection and design research.

The Columbia DSL designs stories for the 21st Century. We build on a diverse range of creative and research practices originating in fields from the arts, humanities and technology. But we never lose sight of the power of a good story.

Technology, as a creative partner, has always shaped the ways in which stories are found and told. In the 21st Century, for example, the mass democratization of creative tools — code, data and algorithms — have changed the relationship between creator and audience. The Columbia DSL, therefore, is a place of speculation, of creativity, and of collaboration between students and faculty from across the University. New stories are told here in new and unexpected ways.

The Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab was founded to explore how storytelling changes as new tools, platforms, and forms of participation reshape the media landscape. Based at Columbia University School of the Arts and led by Lance Weiler, the lab brings together students, faculty, artists, technologists, and industry practitioners to experiment with new forms and functions of storytelling.

From the start, the lab has worked across disciplines and beyond the boundaries of a traditional classroom or studio. It has built collaborations across Columbia, connecting the arts with fields such as engineering, journalism, and narrative medicine, while also developing projects and public programs with partners off campus. Those collaborations have included cultural institutions, festivals, artists, designers, and media organizations working at the forefront of storytelling and creative practice.

Over the years, the lab has developed a body of work that moves across film, immersive experience, installation, performance, games, and emerging media. Projects connected to the lab have been presented at venues and festivals including Sundance, the National Theatre, Lincoln Center, the Museum of the Moving Image, IDFA DocLab, CPH:DOX, Slamdance, Sitges, MozFest, and The Shed. This work reflects the lab's larger mission: to create space for experimentation, critical inquiry, and public engagement around how stories are made, shared, and experienced.

Looking ahead, the lab is well positioned to continue growing as a leader in the field. Its strength lies in bringing together artistic practice, research, teaching, and collaboration in ways that respond to a rapidly changing culture. As storytelling continues to evolve, the Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab remains committed to helping shape its future.