Episode summary: “We are literally surrounded with data. How can we imagine this invisible dimension of reality that is shaping our future?” In the current environment, today’s episode with an artist and designer Richard Vijgen (1982), whose work provides poetical interpretations of data and proposes a dialogue between the human perspective and the disembodied world of digital networks, algorithms and wireless communication, couldn’t feel more timely. Richard has collaborated with film makers, artists, scientists, academic and commercial organizations to visualize and explore datasets on many topics that he discusses with us, opening a door to an invisible universe of data science, new media artists and collecting habits of experiential and digital art.

About the speaker: Founded in 2009, Studio Richard Vijgen that is based in the Netherlands, has been evolving into an experimental practice that explores new technologies, interactions and aesthetics to visualize the invisible. Richard Vijgen’s work has been exhibited in and collected by museums and arts institutions across the world including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Barbican Gallery, ZKM, Ars Electronica, Vitra Design Museum and Manifesta 12. Richard Vijgen is a lecturer at the department of Art Design and Technology at ArtEZ school of Art and Design and frequently serves as a guest lecturer at art schools and universities across Europe and North America. He has received a number of awards and prizes including the Dutch Design Awards, Prix Ars Electronica (honourable mention) , European Design Award.

Richard Vijgen writes about data visualization and digital culture and has published articles in the Yale Architectural Journal, Volume Magazine, New Challenges for Data Design and the Parsons Journal for Information Mapping.

Hosts: Elizabeth Zhivkova and Farah Piriye

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