DATA MIRROR
Are you in control of your Data?
We all leave digital imprints on the Internet. When we Google or write on Facebook, we leave behind traces. Many of us have heard how the major tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon do business by exploiting the knowledge our data gives them. Only a few of us have even had our hands on our data. It may seem a bit remote and abstract, but data is a reality that we have to deal with. DATA MIRROR is an artistic study of how we can relate to abstract data by labeling, processing and sensitizing it through craft.
DATA MIRROR
In the spring of 2022, Astrid Skibsted and Trapholt launched the art project DATA MIRROR, providing people with an opportunity to get close to their personal data. The idea was to use thread and yarn to create a space where we could see, touch, feel, think and talk about our data reality, creating an artistic visualisation of our personal data.
The final artwork, DATA MIRROR comprises a gigantic cylinder of 12 woven lengths. The cylinder is surrounded by four large transparent rectangular pieces of fabric filled with embroidery. The colours in the embroidery interact with the colours in the woven lengths. The woven lengths are like a map of our complex, interwoven world. Through the individual pieces of embroidery, you can zoom in on the personal pattern of each participant and their relationship to this complexity.
In DATA MIRROR it was Astrid Skibsted intention to create an entire colour circle, containing both contrast and harmony. The basic colours of the woven lengths are nougat, coral and mint: colours that Skibsted has discovered change character depending on what other colours they are paired with. The last niche introduces us to the colours of DATA MIRROR, inviting us to explore the work to discover what colours we resonate with personally.
In DATA MIRROR, 630 people translated their digital imprints on Facebook and Google into works of personal embroidery, together forming a unique work of art.
