Data, representation and aesthetics

This book documents enquiries into a new domain of intellectual work and aesthetic expression, a crossroads where data and everyday life intersect. Data, of course, is nothing new. Humans have been collecting, analysing and representing information since there were humans. The cave paintings of Ice Age Europe are held up by both the art and design communities as a starting point for their respective fields; they could similarly be said to represent the early days.
What is new is how digital technology now enables access to data. Networks and sensors are ubiquitous, enabling data to be collected (via drones and satellites) even in the remotest locations; and simple, inexpensive software and hardware make it easy to render data into new forms both digital and physical, static and dynamic. Today, we are all aware that data exists everywhere. We are bathed in rivers and flows of data – a flood, a sea, a surfeit. Shaping, simplifying, designing and moulding it into visible and tangible forms helps us comprehend and experience it.