Data Brainstorming

While I originally wanted to explore projection mapping, I realised while brainstorming ideas for this that I actually wanted to simplify my thinking and create a digital image, incorporating collage and drawing with Adobe Fresco and Photoshop. I decided to do this as it meant I wasn't having to learn a whole new software or medium, and I could focus on a well-rounded representation of my ideas.

I started by exploring other artists' techniques that have been used in the past to portray and visualise data. I questioned how to influence my audience and how I wanted to do this. Did I want them to feel scared, guilty, or wary of the data they share?

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Matt Copson and Alastair MacKinven

‘Eggy and Seedy’

Reynard Reforms

Anatomy of an AI System

The Amazon Echo as an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary resources

"Put simply: each small moment of convenience – be it answering a question, turning on a light, or playing a song – requires a vast planetary network, fueled by the extraction of non-renewable materials, labor, and data."

From <https://anatomyof.ai/>

Chris Jordan

Artist Chris Jordan’s work is about the behaviors we all engage in unconsciously, on a collective level. He makes large-format, long-zoom artwork from the most mind-blowing data about our daily lives. His book ‘Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait’ shares amazing digital photographs that paint a disturbing yet strangely seductive picture of American life today.

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I began brainstorming ideas for the setting of this image's world. I considered different ways to incorporate data into my work, such as using lines of code or HTML, information and data stored on social media sites about myself, Ring doorbell footage from YouTube, or easily accessible data.

While I enjoy incorporating real-world information to highlight the dangers of big data and surveillance, I also think it's important to maintain a fantasy aspect in my work. This is the world I am most comfortable in and it allows me to explore dystopian possibilities further within this framework.