Big Data, Art and the Question of Beauty?
Big data in the arts appears to allude to the sheer amount of data deployed in the composition and functionality of an artwork. Furthermore, big data derives from and describes phenomena and occurrences external to the artwork proper or employs a multitude of participant input in the creation of an artifact that often is dynamic and ongoing.
In this presentation, I want to investigate whether and in which way such big data artworks can be experienced as beautiful. The question is relevant, because it indicates an aesthetic judgment that expresses an immediate valuation. It thus is a token of changes in cultural values and epistemic frameworks.
The first part of the presentation elaborates upon big data visualization as being abstract configurations of data belonging to the aesthetics of representation. Because data visualizations represent potentially unfathomable information, the sublime appears to be a better aesthetic candidate than beauty (Kant, Lyotard, Costa). The sublime alludes to the ceaseless transformation, complexity and intrinsic power of data representing human activity, not on a personal but on a supra-personal level. Big data visualizations transform these data into imaginable and intelligible figurations by inserting concepts that aim at the aesthetization of scientific mappings and thus build bridges between artistic and scientific episteme.
The second part investigates the aesthetics of participant generated big data as means of construction and composition of participatory artefacts. Here, big data is not represented (visualized) but deployed in the construction of participant and system agency. This calls for another notion of beauty (than the beauty of representation) by tying taste and the feeling of pleasure to realization through experiences of agency
Falk Heinrich, PhD, Associate Professor and Head of Studies (School of Communication, Art and Technology) at Aalborg University, Denmark.
Falk Heinrich holds a MA in dramaturgy and multimedia and PhD in interactive installation art. His research is centered on the theory and aesthetics of participatory art and the methodology of art-based research. He teaches art theory and aesthetics, interactive dramaturgy, and artistic methodology. Heinrich is affiliated with the research groups RELATE (Research Laboratory for Art and Technology) at Aalborg University. Formerly, he worked as a theatre actor and director and installation artist. His theoretical investigations have developed in close relation with practical, artistic work. He is the author of the books Interaktiv Digital Installationkunst (2008) and Performing Beauty in Participatory Art and Culture (2014).