TEXT hosts its first conference on human and artificial creativity
We held our first conference this week, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and students to explore creativity across human and artificial domains. Through keynotes, panels, and parallel sessions, the programme highlighted current research, emerging practices, and the evolving role of AI in creative expression.
Day 1: Frictions, collaborations, and the space for reflection
The conference opened with a panel chaired by Janet Rafner, followed by a keynote from Roger Beaty, who offered new insights into how AI can support and illuminate human creativity.
Ulf Berthelsen presented work on identifying patterns in our collective unconscious - an idea that sparked engaged discussion among participants.
The afternoon featured two parallel session tracks, showcasing interdisciplinary work on co‑creative learning, team dynamics, AI literacy, and the changing nature of creativity in human-AI collaborations.
The day concluded with a keynote by Kyle Booten, who introduced the concept of designing “negative spaces” as a way to cultivate slower, more reflective thinking within creative processes.
The first day ended with a conference dinner at Det Glade Vanvid, where conversations continued in a relaxed setting.
Day 2: Text cultures, technology, and creative futures
The second day began with a keynote from Katy Gero on writing, technology, and creative practice. Subsequent presentations explored reflective writing in human-human and human-AI settings, choreography of subjectivity in platform‑based performance, and new research by Izabela Lebuda and Janet Rafner on how writers respond to feedback from humans versus AI systems.
A highlight of the day was the keynote by Nina Begus, who traced how literature has historically shaped cultural imaginaries of AI, and demonstrated why literary scholarship remains essential for understanding and guiding text culture in an age of artificial intelligence.
In the afternoon, Marc Barcelos and other presenters offered perspectives on creativity in relation to AI - from friction in story‑writing processes, expressive adaptation in co‑writing, and artistic negotiations of authorship, to the challenges that arise when AI systems appear to speak on behalf of humans.
The final talks examined generative AI narrative as a dialogic genre, the role of the human in multimodal storytelling, and emerging explorations of autonomous AI imaging practices.
Thank you
We would like to extend warm thanks to all speakers, chairs, and participants for two inspiring and energising days. The conference marks an important milestone for the us and opens new avenues for research and collaboration on the future of creativity and text in human–AI contexts.