ART CITIES:Basel-Poetics and Politics of Data

This decade the key term of our society is an apparently innocent one: data. With the digitization of day-to-day life, the transformation of our every transaction and communication into digital material has become widespread. A few cases have drawn attention to political and legal implications of this new world but for each of these cases, there are a host of smaller, arising every time we give away our location, or send an email or hand our personal information to another site.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: House of Electronic Arts Basel Archive

A further exploration of these unchartered waters of the society is now on view at Basel’s House of Electronic Arts with the exhibition “Poetics and Politics of Data” which “Addresses the paradigm of a data-driven society and reflects life in an increasingly datified world”. In visionary future scenarios, the world is dominated by algorithms that will take over managing processes, a world in which our desires and activities are anticipated, long before we carry them out. Who has access to our data? In what ways is it possible to extract useful information and find valuable and applicable correlations from the immense ocean of data? Through different media the works of the exhibition approach the phenomena of Data and data mining, visualizing the various ways while referring to the political and social implications that come with a world that is controlled by data. The artists question the meaning and position of the individual in a technologically networked society and offer various alternatives to a normative world of data. The future isn’t something to be scared of, but it’s something to be aware of, and this show gives artists the chance to explain it for us. Participating Artists: Christopher Baker, Aram Bartholl, Paolo Cirio, R. Luke DuBois, Ellie Harrison, Marc Lee, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Bernd Hopfengärtner & Ludwig Zeller, Kristin Lucas, Moniker, Jennifer Lyn Morone, RYBN, Erica Scourti.

 

Info: Poetics and Politics of Data,House of Electronic Arts Basel, Freilager-Platz 9,Basel, Duration: 29/5-30/8/15, Days & Hours: Thu-Wed: 12:00-18:00, www.hek.ch/en.html