Gundega Strautmane, a Latvian textile artist and designer, visualizes social and physical networks in a show called Relational Ornaments. The networks are created using various sized pins to depict nodes and threads connecting them to show relationships. Bringing visualization into the tactile world lends it a weight not able to be achieved on a computer screen. It allows the viewer to pause, spend time with the information, feel it, sense it in a more holistic way. The placement of pins and threads is imprecise because they are placed by hand giving the work a very natural, organic feel rather than the rigidity of the exact calculations of programming.
[via The Network Thinkers]
Gundega worked with several blind persons in Riga, Latvia when developing these art pieces. By touching her artwork (she wants people to do this, especially those with poor vision) the blind are able to SEE the visualizations!
BTW, the artwork shown above is data from my Twitter “ego network” — I am the big red node in the center. Those close to me are very interconnected, those further away, not so much. See link below for large pic…
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gU2W2bgvjgM/SV24M8PaXcI/AAAAAAAAAH8/vgE_sm1GfWE/s1600-h/ego99_net.png
Enjoy!
Thanks for the background information, Valdis. I searched all over the place for more contextual info, but came up short. I love that she’s developing these in collaboration with visually-impaired folks. These are very compelling pieces. I would love to see them in person.
Kim, so far, the work has only been exhibited in Latvia, AFIK. But Gundega works in Germany and other EU countries as well. I can send you her email privately, if you wish.
Also see: http://art.state.gov/ArtistDetail.aspx?id=104340
This reminds me of an exhibition we had in Melbourne by an Indian artist, Ranjani Shettar – though I don’t think her work specifically mention scientific visualisations, she’s clearly coming from a similar aesthetic place – worth a google.