Theme:

Popular Occulture in the Modern Age is an interdisciplinary research cluster hosted by the Dark Arts Research Group at the University of Copenhagen in association with CNCSI. Bringing together scholars working across literature, film, television, art, and video games, the cluster investigates how ghosts, monsters, magical practices, and occult beliefs have been represented, reworked, and reimagined across different media. It traces the enduring cultural power of the supernatural from nineteenth-century Gothic fiction such as Frankenstein and Dracula to contemporary interactive digital storytelling in games such as Diablo and Bloodborne. The cluster aims to foster international collaboration, public engagement, and innovative research into how Gothic, horror, and occult ideas circulate globally through evolving media landscapes.

Key Goals

• To develop a leading international research hub for the study of Gothic, horror, and occult topics, bringing together scholars working across literature, film, television, art, and video games to explore how supernatural ideas are represented, transformed, and circulated across different cultural and historical contexts.
• To produce innovative, interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange, including publications, workshops, collaborative research projects, and grant applications.
• To expand public engagement and global accessibility, fostering international collaboration and developing digital and public-facing activities that make research on Gothic, horror, and the occult available to wider audiences beyond academia.

Activities

A full list of research activities and collaborations can be found via the Dark Arts Research Group website: https://engerom.ku.dk/english/research/the-dark-arts-research-group/.

Official Partners

The Gothica Network: https://uobgothica.wordpress.com/

Team Leaders

Efram Sera Shriar, University of Copenhagen

Emma Merkling, University of Manchester

Emily Vincent, Durham University

Members

Sharon Choe, University of Copenhagen

Stephanie Farnsworth, University of Sunderland

Kristin Mills, Macquarie University

Xavier Aldana Reyes, Manchester Metropolitan University

Robert Rix, University of Copenhagen

Kristof Smeyers, University of Leuven