Cecilia Denti

Prizes: Gijs Bakker Award Nominee

Department: Information Design
Website: ceciliadenti.com

Bedtime Stories Generator

Cecilia Denti’s ‘Bedtime Stories Generator’ consists of a partly generative product that allows users to interact with customised fairy tales. The reader has control over the initial choice of characters and the level of detail in the narration. The system composes new variations on classic bedtime stories, in an explorative mix of fairy tales and science fiction.
The generator adopts the structure of a Grimm brothers’ story, and mixes it with new characters and technological innovations such as robots, artificial intelligence, scientists, and space travellers − the science fiction aspect. As the narration develops, the element of control over the tale is taken away from the reader. The story becomes darker and darker and rushes to a new unhappy ending.
Cecilia’s project reflects on concepts like control, power, and trust within the context information and the future. Topics that are hotly debated today in relation to the use of new technologies and systems that process large quantities of data. The bias problems that machines can present give rise to curatorial concerns and censorship questions. The Bedtime Stories Generator tells us that in the future we are either going to have to learn to trust the systems we create, or attempt to control them.