Making Data Felt: Untitled Bombardment Visualization

Keywords: Data Visualization, DIY, laser cutting, affect theory, statistics.

Untitled Bombardment Visualization is an experiment in translating statistical information on aerial bombardments into an affective, visceral, emphatic experience that captures some of the faceless data’s disruptive violence. The artwork mines data regarding the time/place/duration/intensity of aerial bombardments, which is visualized using a custom-made laser engraver that burns the data points into the surface of a topographical map of the region. The visualization piece thus “performs” a tangible and emotionally charged reenactment of the destruction engendered by the data, aiming to lend a body, shape, and smell to the otherwise anonymous and faceless statistical data of aerial bombardments.