This talk is part of the symposium, "Data Visualization from Data to Discovery: Art Center + Caltech + JPL", May 23, 2013 | Beckman Auditorium | Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA | http://www.hi.jpl.nasa.gov/datavis

When Art and Analytics Overlap: Insights and Strategies from Artists who use Evidence

This talk presents a series of examples of artistic inquiries developed from real-world evidence. Some examples are computational, while others use "analog" media, but all are united in their use of algorithmic approaches to extract empirical yet poetic insights into culture, individuals, minds and language. From these examples, the outline of a collection of design strategies is compiled.

Golan Levin is Associate Professor of Computation Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also holds Courtesy Appointments in the School of Computer Science, the School of Design, and the Entertainment Technology Center. Since 2009, Levin has also served as Director of CMU's Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, a laboratory for atypical and anti-disciplinary research across the arts, sciences, and technology. Levin's research explores new intersections of machine code and visual culture, combining equal measures of the whimsical, the provocative, and the sublime in a wide variety of media. His work has spanned themes such as gestural robotics; the tactical potential of personal digital fabrication; novel aesthetics of non-verbal interactivity; and information visualization as a mode of arts practice. A two-time TED speaker, Levin was named one of "50 Designers Shaping the Future" by Fast Company magazine in October 2012.

About the symposium: 

Nearly every scientific and engineering endeavor faces a fundamental challenge to see and extract insights from data. Effective Data Science and Visualization can lead to new discoveries.

Together, we at Caltech, NASA JPL, and Art Center represent the same convergence of science, engineering and design that drives new Big Data-powered discovery.

On May 23, 2013, industry leaders visited Pasadena for a series of talks to inspire, unite and challenge our community to re-examine our practices, and our perspectives. Guests included:

* Fernanda Viégas & Martin Wattenberg | Co-leaders, Google Data Visualization Group
* Jer Thorp | Co-founder, The Office for Creative Research
* Golan Levin | Director, Carnegie Mellon Studio for Creative Inquiry
* Eric Rodenbeck | Founder, Stamen Design
* Jeff Heer | Assistant Professor, Stanford University
* Anja-Silvia Goeing | Privatdozent, University of Zurich and Lecturer of History and History of Science, Caltech

See http://www.hi.jpl.nasa.gov/datavis for more information. 

Produced in association with Caltech Academic Media Technologies. © 2013 California Institute of Technology.

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