Alumni News: Ellen Viste at Bergen Assembly

We’re delighted to see Artica alumna Ellen Viste taking part in A Machine as Complex as the World Itself, a two-day gathering in Bergen marking the first steps towards Bergen Assembly 2028.

Ellen joined Artica Svalbard as a writer in residence in 2024, nominated by Norsk faglitterær forfatter- og oversetterforening (NFFO). During her time in Longyearbyen, she worked on her book Temperature. A Story of Cold Shock, Heat Death, and the Species That Sets the Planet’s Thermostat, using Svalbard as a frame through which to explore temperature as both a physical force and a lived experience.

A meteorologist, writer and former climate researcher, Ellen works across science and storytelling to examine our relationship with weather, climate and the changing planet. Her participation in A Machine as Complex as the World Itself continues many of the questions at the heart of her work: how we understand complex planetary systems, how knowledge is produced and shared, and how humans relate to the environments of which we are a part.

Taking place at Korskirken in Bergen on 11–12 September 2026, the gathering brings together artists, musicians, scientists, writers and thinkers to collectively explore questions and lines of inquiry that will contribute to the development of Bergen Assembly 2028.

We’re very happy to see Ellen continuing these conversations beyond Svalbard and bringing her perspective to this international gathering.

Full details about the event can be found here: bergenassembly.no