The Open Data Institute (ODI) sees the creative use of data as an intrinsic and essential part of our cultural landscape. As part of it’s ongoing operations, the it has an Art Programme committed to facilitating artists in the exhibition and creation of works which translate data into something that is meaningful to people’s lives. Artists use data as an art material in many ways: materialising them physically, sonifying them to amplify natural phenomena, coalescing them to create new realities. They question how objective the treatment of data is, and how much truth do we expect from an artwork with statistical roots? And we are asked to consider whether it matters. If we accept that there is dogma in the artists code, do we accept that it plays a part in other code too? Often at the critical edge of technological debate, artists are redefining how we perceive data and how it affects and reflects our lives. This presentation will showcase art curated for the on-going Data as Culture programme, from concept through the development process to the final work, and present findings on how the art programme has impacted the ODI, its visitors and its staff. By Julie Freeman

1. Julie Freeman
@misslake
ODI Art Associate
Senior TED Fellow
School of Electronic Engineering & Computer Science, Queen Mary University of
London
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2. Who? — Leadership Team
Gavin Starks CEO
18+ years startup experience
20+ years science, web, media, and data
Sir Tim Berners-Lee
Jeni Tennison CTO
World-leader in open data and linked data
W3C, legislation.gov.uk and data.gov.uk architect
Stuart Coleman VP Market Development
15+ years in commercial tech space
Formerly HP, CA, and AMEE
Sir Nigel Shadbolt
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3. A privately owned not-for-profit,
a convening point for:
Public
Private
Academia
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4. Mission statement
Catalyse the evolution of open data culture
to create economic, environmental, and social value
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5. How? — Communication
Training
Research
Development
Start-up incubator
Art programme
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6. Cultural data
Data as an art material
– used by artists & creative practitioners
Data that IS cultural media
– moving image, photos, audio, BBC archives, Europeana, etc
Data about the cultural sector
– museums, galleries, audiences
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7. Data as an art material
- agenda-free experimentation
- innovation
- constant failure and iteration
- expose what data and data science means and it’s impact on
society
- as more data is opened up, the information it holds must be
reflected back to us from many angles
Artists explore and expose processes
...and understanding process leads to progress
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8. Launch of Data as Culture
- Open call for artists: 89 respondents from 20 countries in 2 weeks
- Global coverage (WSJ, main TED conference in LA)
- 3,000+ visitors to the ODI London space
- Significant response from cultural leaders
“You’ve set the agenda for data as culture—so what’s next?”
Honor Harger, Creative Director, Lighthouse Digital Agency
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9. Three flames ate the sun, and big stars were seen – Phil Archer ©

10. Metrography – Bertrand Clerk & Benedikt Groß ©

11. Body 01000010011011110110010001111001 – Stanza ©

12. The SKOR Codex – La Société Anonyme ©

13. 20hz – Semiconductor ©

14. The Obelisk – Fabio Lattanzi Antinori ©

15. Text Trends – Martin John Callanan ©

16. Still Lifes and Oscillators 1 – Ben Garrod

17. Vending Machine – Ellie Harrison ©

18. Julie Freeman
@misslake
julie.freeman@theodi.org
www.translatingnature.org
theodi.org
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