We live in the age of Big Data: extremely large data sets collected from multiple sources by scientists, businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and others. Data visualization—the practice of representing data—is one of the primary tools used to make these massive amounts of data understandable, transforming them into knowledge. Within the sciences, data visualization conveys information in a compelling manner; in art, it transforms information into a canvas for creative expression. Over the past 20 years, artists and designers have incorporated data visualization into their work, both as a way of critiquing it and as a new form of storytelling. Seeing the Unseeable explores how art, science, and design have become integrated in the work of both scientists and contemporary artists.

Artists in the Exhibition:

Refik Anadol

Laurie Frick

Hyojung Seo

George Legrady

Rafael Lozano Hemmer

Giorgia Lupi and Ehren Shorday

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

Sarah Morris

Data to Discovery: Santiago Lombeyda and Hillary Mushkin

Mimi Ọnụọha

Semiconductor: Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt

Linnéa Gabriella Spransy

Mika Tajima

Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg

Peggy Weil

Christine Wertheim, Margaret Wertheim and The Institute for Figuring

Seeing the Unseeable: Data, Design, Art Higher Ed Curricular Resource